Rumson intends to ban smoking in all of its public parks. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Smoke ’em if you got ’em. Just not in Rumson’s parks.
The council, in what it sees as a ‘duh’ move for public health, intends to ban smoking in all the borough’s public parks.
“We just felt it was a good example for the kids,” Mayor John Ekdahl said.
The council introduced the ordinance Tuesday night, not long after receiving a letter from a seventh-grader suggesting that officials stub out smoking, he said.
“We kind of all looked around the chambers and thought, why didn’t we think of this?” Ekdahl said.
If passed, and there’s no sign that it won’t — the council unanimously voted in favor of introduction — the borough will install signs at all parks that reads, “Thank You For Not Smoking,” Councilman Mark Rubin said.
The ban, similar to New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s, is unlikely to make any waves in town, if it draws any reaction at all, Ekdahl said.
“It’s really not a hardship for anybody,” he said. “It’s a littering issue as well as a health issue.”
Fines for violators have yet to be established, but they, along with other details of the ordinance, will be cemented when the council makes a final vote on April 12.
