Smoking in the public realm

I just saw the city council voted to ban smoking in Moore Square and Nash Square. Nice!

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I can’t believe that the two remaining squares were previously exempted from the ordinance that banned smoking in city parks back in 2011.

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Now if only Red Hatter could stop smoking/vaping on public space beside BU KU.

That would be great.

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Who’s Red Hatter? What’s the public space at buku? I’m confused

Just the sidewalk on Wilmington Street beside BuKu. Smokers from RedHat towerthink they’re free to blow smoke in everyone’s face. They really should have a better designated smoking area away from pedestrians.

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Whats your problem with vaping? Its literally water vapor (steam). They can ban it all they want, I’ll still vape.

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I wish they’d ban smoking on city sidewalks. They can ban drinking, and the worst someone drinking on a sidewalk is going to do is spill their drink on me. 14% of adults smoke in this country. Their choice, but the other 86% plus kids (~90% of the population) shouldn’t have to walk through clouds of carcinogenic smoke just to go about their day.

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Vape isn’t just water vapor, it’s propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin. Not saying those are remotely worse than smoke but it’s not just water vapor.

Vape if you want but just not on other people against their will. Vaping on a heavily trafficked street makes you terrible people. Especially the terrible flavors that Red Hatters seem to use.

The habits people use and what level of awesomeness or terribleness it correlates to is off-topic.

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Whether vaping is cool or not is not the subject of my complaint. In downtown Raleigh, people shouldn’t be subject to artificial, localized air pollution–people that smoke and vape should do it away from common foot traffic.

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Let’s take it to a new topic.

I have to wonder how effective a ban on smoking on Nash and Moore Squares will be. If smoking is still legal on city sidewalks, then won’t we just be pushing the smokers out of the park and onto the sidewalk? That doesn’t seem like much of a victory to me.

I think enforcement is key. Last time Moore Square was open, they couldn’t enforce the laws about public urination, public intoxication, drug use, loitering, panhandling, disorderly conduct, etc. Maybe with an upgrade there will be some momentum to keep it a nice area for everyone.

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No large city ever has been able to completely eliminate this kind of stuff.

There’s a difference between completely eliminating and not even really trying.

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OMG yes!
If the law resulted in immediate improvement of experience, I’ll take it. Over time, the social expectations and perceived norms will further strengthen the experience.
We’ve come a long way from the time when people were smoking in the produce section of the grocery stores. I remember writing letters to Harris Teeter in the early 90s about them not enforcing their own No Smoking signs in their stores.

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I can accept the occasional cloud of smoke while walking on a public sidewalk but what I can’t accept are those who think of the world as their personal ash tray. Vaping doesn’t come with this very nasty side effect.

Regarding Moore Square I support a policy against cigarette/cigar smoking due to litter concerns with vaping (only) allowed. A lot of people including children will be congregating in the square. No place for cigarette smoke.

For perspective I can remember when smoking was allowed on commercial airliners. We have come a long, long way indeed!

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Having grown up around smokers and being in a family where almost everyone (including myself) worked for a tobacco company, I have mixed feelings. I have never smoked the first cigarette and think it is completely disgusting. But I also have to respect that the livelihood of my family was almost completely reliant on the tobacco industry.

My biggest issue is going to a restaurant (or movie or anywhere in public) and people smelling like cigarette smoke. Especially when I am trying to eat. It kills the experience and everything just tastes like nasty smoke. PSA, if you work in the food industry, please don’t smell like cigarettes (or strong perfume/cologne) if you serve people food.

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I flew to China in the late 90s for business, and US carriers were still allowing smoking on flights to and from there. I was horrified that I had to sit on a flight from Detroit to Beijing for 12 hours with smokers. It was horrendous.

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