Some smokers already think the price for a pack of cigarettes is high, but that cost may be getting worse in Danville. This week, the city manager proposed 30 cents per pack tax increase that would be included in next year’s budget. Nearly every city in the state has a cigarette tax, but Danville’s not among them. The budget there has become so tight that officials are saying this may be the only option. “It should stay at the same price it’s at because everything is so high, why go up on cigarettes too?” said smoker Belinda Fitzgarald.

The average price per pack in Danville is nearly $4, and with an additional tax proposed on top of that, some smokers aren’t happy.

“Cause they know they’re addicted to smoking, so they keep raising the price up higher and higher,” said Fitzgarald.

“Some people smoke, other people don’t. But also some people eat in restaurants, other people don’t. We have taxes on restaurants and hotel rooms, and cigarettes would fall into that category,” said Joe King, the Danville City Manager.

Income to the city is slim, and officials think it’s about time smokers start paying up.

“It’s important for cities to have sources of revenue that produce ongoing… not just one time revenue sources, but year after year,” said King.

Thirty of 39 cities in Virginia tax cigarettes, but Danville isn’t one of them. Officials say they’ve already made too many cuts to the budget. The only answer now without raising property taxes is cigarettes.

But some city council members say that’ll just invite people to spend their money elsewhere.

“It’s just like right now, we get a lot of traffic from North Carolina to buy gas, to buy cigarettes, to buy other staple products. What would keep them from just staying on that side when it comes to cigarettes?” said Buddy Rawley, Danville City Council member.

The city says they can make about $200,000 a year on the tax. This same tax proposal was denied by city council during last year’s budget talks.

Mercer Island City Council approved the posting of new park signs Monday night at most of the Island’s parks which encourage visitors to avoid using tobacco products. City Parks and Recreation Director Bruce Fletcher told the council at a March 19 meeting in City Hall that while second hand tobacco smoke can increase risks of developing respiratory health problems, Mercer Island park rules do not prohibit the use of tobacco.

Fletcher asked the City Council for the power to adopt new rules prohibiting use of tobacco in areas where children usually gather, such as playgrounds, sport fields, bleachers, restrooms, concession stands, skate parks, swim beaches, and community events. Under questioning, he admitted that no one had complained about tobacco use in parks, but pointed out that volunteers collected 157 cigarette butts during a Dec. 19 clean-up of Mercerdale Park, mostly near the skate park, playground and gazebo areas.

“I thought we’d try something around where the kids are to start and see how that goes, said Fletcher. “Local parks are a gathering place for families to enjoy the nature, clean air and to have fun.”

The Council preferred an incremental approach instead, led by a proposal from Deputy Mayor Dan Grausz which directed Fletcher to install signs that have facilities or areas dedicated to children. City Attorney Katie Knight clarified that a park rule change would “criminalize” the tobacco ban as a misdemeanor, much as visiting a park after closing times. So Grausz offered the sign alternative instead, with the signs declaring that “This Park is Tobacco Free”, but have no legal enforcement.

The signs will be posted at nearly every public park, but likely not Pioneer Park or most of the Open Space designated lands as those park lands have little or nothing in the way of “facilities or areas dedicated to children.”

Last year, several cities in King County adopted the county’s plan and declared their parks tobacco free, including Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Seattle, Snoqualmie and the Vashon Parks District. Tobacco policies are enforced mostly by residents themselves, much like with dog leash and alcohol policies, according to the county’s health services website. This is how similar laws have worked in other places, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

“Most people will see the sign and comply with it,” Grausz. “Those people who don’t comply with it will have to deal with the community pressure.”

Two councilmembers, Mike Cero and Mike Grady, opposed the sign installation for the opposite reasons. Councilman Grady sought an outright ban on all tobacco use in parks due to the second-hand smoke risk and litter from cigarette butts and tried to remind the council that it was a public safety issue — their most important responsibility.

“It’s been very clear that smoking has been a significant health concern,” Grady said. “I feel like we’re kind of cowering away from that. I strongly urge you to consider this in terms of a public health issue and a leadership issue.”

Cero protested the signs as pointless with no enforcement and said second-hand smoke could be controlled by enforcing existing laws for dealing with underage tobacco possession and littering.

“I really have an issue with the city posting signs on something that tells people they can’t do something yet they don’t stand behind it,” he said. “This is just something to do that’s not addressing the problem.”

According to Public Health Seattle – King County, tobacco causes nearly 2,000 premature deaths and costs over $340 million in medical expenses each year in King County. The “Tobacco-Free” park signs will be posted at all parks with areas or facilities for children. The signs are paid for by a $25.5 million grant from Public Health Seattle – King County in 2010. Mercer Island is eligible for approximately $4,000 in signs but must install the signs at the city’s expense.

The parent company of Aviation Mall announced plans this week to ban tobacco at all of its shopping malls.
The tobacco-free policy kicks in May 31 and will apply to all inside and outside areas, including parking lots and sidewalks. It covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and even electronic cigarettes.
Pyramid Management Group LLC owns 15 malls in New York and Massachusetts, including Aviation Mall in Queensbury and Crossgates Mall in Albany.

The company has been working with regional tobacco-control partnerships to implement the policy. Signage from the tobacco-free coalitions will be posted around the property, and the mall will provide employees with smoking cessation information and counseling.
“We strongly believe this new policy will not only support our employees and guests who are sensitive to secondhand smoke or are trying to quit smoking, but it also will provide a more enjoyable and healthier shopping experience to the millions of visitors who come through our doors each year,” said James Soos, director of asset management for Pyramid.

To raise awareness, members of Reality Check from Queensbury High School will educate shoppers from 2 to 5 p.m. today (March 21) at Aviation Mall about the dangers of tobacco marketing.
The Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition and the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey applauded the announcement.
“This policy means shoppers and their kids won’t have to walk a gauntlet of harmful secondhand smoke just to enter a mall,” said Alvaro Carrascal, an executive with the cancer society. “Secondhand smoke is a known carcinogen with no safe level of exposure.”
The first Pyramid mall to go smoke-free was the Carousel Center in Syracuse in 2007. Successful implementation there led to the corporate-wide expansion of the policy.

The Republic is rolling out further efforts to lower the smoking rate here, with a vision of “eliminating tobacco from Singapore one day”. Speaking today in Parliament at the Committee of Supply debates, Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said that while efforts ranging from education to taxes and legislation had brought smoking rates here down to 15 per cent – “one of the best in the world” – Singapore could not afford to let its guard down.

“To bring us to the next stage in tobacco control, beyond top-down legislative measures, we will focus on stronger, ground-up efforts that together, will de-normalise tobacco use and establish smoke-free living as the social norm,” she said. “We will also work with NEA on the long-term goal of banning smoking in all public places other than designated smoking areas.”

Responding to a query from Minister of Parliament Janil Puthucheary, in which he asked if the Ministry of Health would consider articulating a vision of being a “tobacco-free nation”, Ms Khor said: “We share Dr Janil’s vision of eliminating tobacco from Singapore one day, but when that day will come, we cannot be sure.”

To that end, from March next year, the Health Ministry will ban misleading terms on tobacco product packaging and labelling, and lower cigarette tar and nicotine limits. Graphic Health Warnings will be replaced with a new set to ensure continued impact.

A Blue Ribbon movement was launched last week to promote smoke-free environments, while the Health Promotion Board is working with youth networks on a “Live it Up Without Lighting Up” movement. Some success has been seen, Ms Khor said, with the rates of youths aged 13 to 16 years old smoking on at least one day in the past month decreasing from 11 per cent in 2000 to 6 per cent in 2009.

White Settlement is cracking down on smoking in parks and restaurants. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to require restaurants and other establishments that serve food to install ventilation systems and designate nonsmoking areas. The city joined a growing number of Tarrant County cities with some form of smoking ban. The council also banned smoking in parks except parking lots, City Manager Linda Ryan said. Ann Smith, who requested a smoking ordinance 18 months ago, said she is pleased.

“It’s a good start,” she said. “I think businesses will go nonsmoking because they don’t want to spend the money to put in ventilation systems.”

Ryan said businesses that don’t serve or prepare food can decide whether to allow smoking.

Although most major Texas cities ban smoking, some smaller communities and rural areas have no restrictions, creating a “patchwork” across the state.

In Tarrant County, 22 cities have varying restrictions, and 13 don’t limit smoking, according to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

State Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, has said she will seek a statewide ban next legislative session.

She said a ban would save $31 million in Medicaid and other health-related costs in two years, according to a study by the Texas Department of State Health Services. The study indicated that savings would come from costs associated with low birth weight, childhood asthma and heart disease.

Students from Longfellow Charter School’s School of Design are picking a fight with big tobacco, by displaying a 12-foot anti-smoking mural they created at Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse. The students are part of an organization called fighting against corporate tobacco, or F.A.C.T. The goal of the campaign is to inform peers about the harmful effects of tobacco. The middle school students have been learning about ways the tobacco industry markets to children. They created the mural to express what they have learned over the year. Many of the members joined the group because they knew someone battling with tobacco addiction.

F.A.C.T. member and 7th grader, Shaelyn Keneipp had this to say, “I’m part of this group because I have a grandma who died of lung cancer…and I feel that every…like…people should be able to meet their great grand children.”

According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids about 60,000 kids in Wisconsin smoke and 7,400 youth become daily smokers annually.

The government of the Philippines will update the nations excise taxes on the sale of cigarettes, to lower the country’s smoking rate and to increase government revenues. On February 28th the House of Representatives of the Philippines held a hearing on a new bill proposing an overhaul to the excise taxes imposed on the sale of cigarettes in the Philippines, which will instate a single unitary tax rate to be adjusted annually in line with the level of inflation in the country.

The government currently estimates that the new tax could raise as much as PHP 400 billion in tax revenues by 2016, of which approximately PHP 225 billion will be used to create new projects to help local farmers convert their tobacco plantations to other types of crops.
The Department of Health of the Philippines has suggested that a portion of the newly raised revenues should be allocated to healthcare and programs to discourage smoking. It is estimated that up to 55 percent of the population of the Philippines currently uses some form of tobacco products.
The Department of Health explained that smoking is more common amongst poorer members of society in the country, and increasing the taxes on cheaper brands of cigarettes could push prices out of the reach of many smokers.
The proposed tax is opposed by a number of politicians in the Philippines, who claim that the new measure will lead to a significant increase in the occurrence of smuggling of tobacco into the country.

The Albany Common Council votes in favor of a smoking ban on playgrounds, near pools and recreational areas. Catina Movodonos and her 7 year old daughter play in the Rosemont Playground in Albany and Catina says she is all for the ban. “I’m in total agreement,” she said. “The kids don’t need to be around it and they aren’t around it in schools or libraries and it’s a public area so why should there be smoking.” The ban would be for the actual play and rec areas and include ball parks and swimming pools.

“The dangers of second hand smoke have been proven study upon study so what else can you say,” said Movodonos.

9th Ward Councilman James Sano introduced the ordinance that would place signage in the areas with a ban and those who break the law could face a $50 fine.

“With this law it gives a parent seeing someone smoking the ability to ask them to put it out where before they relied on the kindness of their heart but now they can say its the law and there is a sign so please abide by it,” said Sano.

“At best it’s a good idea but how do you enforce,” said Common Council President Carolyn McLaughlin. “I’m standing here being perfectly honest that I don’t know how you enforce it.”

Sano says if it came to it, an Albany Police officer could be called to issue a ticket.
“I can’t see the fifty dollar ticket happening that often, I would hope people would use good judgment”

Sano says this could be the first steps toward an all out ban in public parks as a whole.

Many of Albany’s neighboring towns like Colonie and Bethlehem already have similar ordinances on the books.

About 10 citizens including several from Mills and Evansville stated their concerns with the proposal, now being drafted and yet to be heard, that would call for a ban on indoor smoking in all public and work spaces in Casper. Comments Tuesday evening, came at the end of the regular Casper city council meeting, and were generally in support of individual and business owner rights to choose. A concern for eroding personal freedoms in Wyoming was heard.

A final comment in support of the proposal came from a local attorney who suggests a smoking ban could effect a significant decrease in harm in the workplace and be crafted in such a way as to be minimally intrusive.

City council intends to schedule a formal debate on the subject before bringing any draft ordinance forward for public hearing. Those dates have yet to be set.