All Up in Smoke

11/15/2015

By Katerina Biancardi

The Austin City Council Thursday, lifted the city’s Smoking in Public Places ordinance to allow for smoking in three designated areas in Auditorium Shores for the annual three-day music festival Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend.

The vote, however, calls into question, whether the city is earnest about honoring its own ordinances, some officials said at the special meeting.

Fun Fun Fun Fest has requested designated smoking areas for the past three years, according to Sara Hensley, director of Austin Parks and Recreation. Furthermore, she said Fun Fun Fun Fest will be the only event to submit a request this year.

“We have seen a significant decrease in requests, and that is our hope, that it would slowly just wean off, and we wouldn’t have to go back and address it,” said Hensley.

For events held in Austin City parks, event organizers wishing to waive city ordinances must submit a map with the designated smoking areas to Hensley. Then, the request must be approved by the city council.

During the council meeting there was debate among the council members about the request.

Council Member Dan Zimmerman and Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria’s said they were in favor of granting the exemption.

“People make bad choices,” Zimmerman said. “It’s not our job to stop all the bad choices.”

Renteria said with or without the ban, smokers will risk getting a ticket.

“Smokers have to have their cigarettes,” Renteria said.

Additionally, Renteria said it is more beneficial to provide smokers a safe location, instead of smokers illegally hiding to smoke.

The Smoking in Public Places ordinance was adopted in 2005 and prohibits smoking in public places. In 2011, an amendment was added to allow the special exemptions. The issue now is whether these exemptions are what the city should be doing, some of the council members said.

City Council Chair Sheri Gallo questioned Zimmerman and Renteria’s preference to suspend the ban for the musical festival. She said was against the exemption because the city should abide by its own laws without exception.

“If we as a city adopted an ordinance policy that said smoking is not allowed in our parks,” said Gallo. “It’s a little uncomfortable to me to grant permission to smoke to a commercial entity using our parks for a function.”

Hensley, Austin Parks and Recs director, said that this process of approving an exemption is setting a precedent for other events held in city parkland.

“Another group could come back in three weeks, and use this same format to request it,” said Hensley.

City Council Member Ann Kitchen said the council needs to take into account the health of the city’s residents before granting exemptions like these.

“The city has made significant progress from a public health standpoint, with regard to smoking,” Kitchen said.

Kitchen recommended forwarding the discussion to a committee to reexamine in policy and both Mayor Steve Alder and Hensley said that they welcomed Kitchen’s suggestion.

Austin Parks and Recreation Event Coordinator Cara Fischer said the discussion will move to the board and commissions for review, and it will most likely take about six months until they makes any recommendations to the council.

Fischer said there is positive and negative to having designated smoking areas. She said if a person plans to smoke during an event, the hope is the person will actually use the designated smoking area.

“I think that’s the point the city council was making sending this to the board and commissions, that something needs to be reviewed to find a catch-all answer because the designated smoking areas as it reads now, are not the answer,” Fischer said. “But without it you are facing a bigger problem.”