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City Council Backs Smoking Ban
August 29, 2007
Bradford City Council members Tom Riel, Dan Costello, and Ross Neidich have backed an unenforceable smoking ban in certain city parks over the objections of Mayor Michelle Corignani and Parks Director Chip Comilla.
The move, led by Riel is actually a back door attempt to move a small group of loiterers from Veteran’s Square. The Bradford Era quoted Riel as saying:
“Part of the reason I’m proposing this ordinance is to clean up the public square,” he said. “The people who hang out there keep the people from Emery Towers from going there. You get riff-raff who hang out all day and throw butts all over the place.”
In passing this measure Riel and the other two council members have shown a complete disdain for the majority of law abiding and considerate smokers. Parents who enjoyed taking their children to the City’s parks. This sort of disdain is nothing new for Riel however. He is perhaps best remembered for holding the City hostage a few years ago by threatening to open a strip club on Main Street until the City payed him off.
Mayor Michelle Corignani voted against the measure over concerns about its enforceability.
By passing this new law Riel and the other two failed to consider how it will be enforced. They ignored existing anti-littering legislation that could be, but is not enforced. They failed to consider the out-of-towners who attend our festivals on Main Street. Will they beautify Veteran’s Square by hanging big “No Smoking” signs? Maybe, but more than likely the law will just be ignored at those times because those are the “right kind of people”. Meanwhile, the group they are targeting are free to move on to Main Street to smoke and loiter in front of our businesses.
No, Riel, Costello, and Niedich can now move on, patting themselves on the back for passing some feel-good legislation, and dumping responsibility for enforcement on the City Police. Now that’s leadership.
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