Savannah smoking ban raising questions

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By Don Logana - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - On Wednesday night, the City of Savannah held its second public hearing on going smoke-free.

As WTOC first reported two weeks ago, the proposal, called Smoke-Free Savannah, will ban smoking in bars, restaurants and any other business. It also bans smoking within 20 feet of any business entrance, plus smoking in any outdoor seating area at a restaurant.

While many think a smoke free Savannah is long overdue, the question is where do the smokers go? Some fear smokers will head to the squares, defeating the purpose of a smoke free environment.

James Pringle is a Wright Square fixture, where he sits and sells palm flowers, blows his whistle and sings about everything, including not smoking.

"Smoke gets in your clothes. I hope they could take that taste out their mouth. I really do," Pringle told WTOC.

The city is trying to help do just that, banning smoking in all businesses, and even bars. The law goes even further. No matter where a smoker goes, under the regulation, they cannot smoke 20 feet from any business entrance. So, where are those smokers going to go?

"They'd come right to the park," Pringle said. "If they come to the park. They gonna mess me up. I hate that."

Smokers we caught up with agree.

"It might be polluting the squares. It might be. 10 feet from an entrance. Where ya gonna go? Go across the road. What's across the road? The squares," Carl Livingston told WTOC.

"I'm in the square," Brittany Stafford said, as she lit up a cigarette in Wright Square.

"There are other communities that have 100 and 200 foot laws," Dr. Ray Rudolph told WTOC.

Dr. Rudolph says the smoking ban is long over due. "This law is not against anybody. It is for health and for clean air," he said.

Unlike previous attempts at banning smoking, he thinks Smoke-Free Savannah is just aggressive enough, even banning smoking in private clubs and businesses, including nursing homes.

"If my father is in a room and his roommate smokes, why should they have to bear the discomfort of other persons smoking," Rudolph said.

"I'm a smoker but I respect anybody elses wishes," Livingston said.

Livingston isn't sure the ban will stop anyone from smoking. "If they have to go 10 miles they will smoke. Smokers gonna smoke," he said.

However, it might stop Brittany Stafford. "I'll probably quit smoking. That's just me. I think others would be more angry about it," she said.

The thought of angry smokers filling up his square has Pringle singing a new tune.

"If people wanna smoke they should have a place where they can smoke at," Pringle said.

A lot of opinions on the Smoke-Free Savannah proposal are expected at Mayor Otis Johnson's town hall meeting. He wants to have the ordinance in place by September.

Businesses, specifically bars and hybrid bar-restaurants, are worried it will hurt them. Dr. Rudolph says studies have shown, in cities like Charleston, the smoking ban actually resulted in a six percent business increase.

City council is expected to have the ordinance in their hands for a first reading as early as next week.