This article is talking about putting a smoking ban in public parks, playgrounds, beaches and pedestrian plazas. There were some arguments about the ban being too restrictive, and concerns that the ban would lead to an overbearing government. This smoking ban would be exercising the social protective regulation of the tools of public action. It’s restricting a private action, but it wouldn’t be very effective because it would be hard to regulate in big places such as the city parks. Also, the issue of equity arises in that it’s not really fair to people who do smoke. That is why one council member petitioned for designated smoking areas outside, but was ultimately turned down since the second hand smoke would still be an issue.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/air-cleared-at-parks-smoking-ban-hearing/?scp=2&sq=smoking&st=cse
-Kelly Neary
I agree that this policy wouldn't be effective. The policy goal of this proposal is to limit smoking in public places through regulation. One problem with proposal is the implementation which would be through street level bureaucrats. Enforcing this ban would be costly in resources such as police enforcement time,and money to employ extra officers.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is easy to say that prohibiting smoking in a park is an easy way to provide a more healthy environment for children. Most parks around the country are public parks and to outlaw smoking at a public park would bring controversy. What could be done to resolve this problem is to just have a place in the park that is for smoking and therefore a smoker would acknowledge that they should smoke a distance away from other children and their families. Also to regulate this smoking ban the government would need to spend more money to supply officers to patrol those public areas.
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