Most e-mails sent to city council members, and provided to Carolina Journal on request, voice opposition to Raleigh’s proposed ban on smoking in city parks that comes up for a vote on Tuesday.

In contrast to the e-mails, members of the Parks, Recreation and Greenways Advisory Board, which recommended the ban, said they received nothing but supportive comments before recommending late last year a total ban on tobacco in city parks and greenways.

More than a hundred emails were sent to city officials regarding the smoking ban, but many of those were duplicates sent to the mayor and council members. When duplicates were accounted for, 12 individuals expressed opposition to the ban, and four expressed support.

One nonsmoker who wrote, “We the people have the right to smoke in the fresh air. I feel no one has the right to ban smoking in outdoor city parks. This is like the Gestapo,” is representative of the opposition reflected in the e-mails.

The proposal has taken a slow road to get to Tuesday’s expected vote. It started with someone e-mailing Mayor Charles Meeker in 2007 to complain about cigarette butts littering parks. The idea of a smoking ban was investigated, and city leaders discovered they didn’t have the authority to prohibit smoking in parks and open spaces.

The city lobbied the state to get the required authority and it was granted to local governments in the indoor smoking ban bill enacted by the legislature last year.

The city’s PRGAB had recommended that the city ban all tobacco products in all city parks and greenways. During the council’s January 18 meeting, council members asked staff to formulate a less-restrictive ordinance, which will be voted on Tuesday.

The reworded ordinance would ban smoking, but would not ban other tobacco products, such as snuff or chewing tobacco. It would allow smoking in Moore and Nash squares and allow smoking in parking lot areas of parks. Violating the proposed ban would carry a $50 fine.

If it passes the ordinance, Raleigh would be the third North Carolina city to ban smoking in its parks. Asheville and Boone were the first two. Buncombe County also has passed a smoking ban in parks and public open spaces.

One e-mail to council members expressed support for the proposed ban. “The outdoors belong to everyone and smokers have no right to pollute my air,” it read. “Plus, the people are the government, and I have a right to expect smokers to keep their habit to themselves and away from my lungs.”

Another e-mailer pointedly disagreed with that view: “The idea of second-hand smoke being harmful in an open-air area like a park is patently ridiculous. To ban it in a confined area like a bar or restaurant is understandable, but out in the open it doesn’t make sense.”

Another e-mailer likened the smoking ban proposal to the council’s decision in March 2008 to ban kitchen garbage disposals. The city repealed that ordinance a month later after an overwhelming public outcry against it.

Since the most current proposal was taken up by the city late last year, there has been no public comment on the smoking ban at any city council meeting.

Anthony Greco is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.