A. Public health officials have concluded that secondhand tobacco smoke causes disease in nonsmoking adults, including lung cancer and heart disease, and serious conditions in children, including asthma, respiratory infections, middle ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. In addition, public health officials have reported that even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can exacerbate adult asthma and allergies, and cause eye, throat and nasal irritation. The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. The conclusions of public health officials concerning secondhand tobacco smoke are sufficient to warrant measures that regulate smoking in public places in order to protect the public health.
B. The intent of this chapter is to protect the public health, comfort and environment, and the rights of nonsmokers to breathe clean air by prohibiting smoking within a specified area around City Hall and the City Library, which is an area frequented by adults and children, who, without this chapter, would be forced to choose between exposure to secondhand smoke or avoiding these areas whose purpose is to provide a benefit to the public at large. (Ord. 3603, 2018)