The time has come for a smoke-free Chicago

Until 1997, Chicago had an ordinance that stated:

"No person shall spit upon any public sidewalk, or upon the floor of any public conveyance, or upon the floor of theater, hall, assembly room or public building, under a penalty of not less than $1 nor more than $5 for each offense."

Current Chicago municipal codes states:

No person on the public way shall employ any device or instrument that creates or amplifies sound, including but not limited to any loudspeaker, bullhorn, amplifier, public address system, musical instrument, radio or device that plays recorded music, to generate any sound, for the purpose of communication or entertainment, that is louder than average conversational level at a distance of 100 feet or more, measured vertically or horizontally, from the source.

We now have a proposed ordinance to fine littering on our city streets. The time has come to finally take the stand for public health and ban smoking on our city streets.

Today, I took a trip downtown to meet my wife for lunch. Exiting LaSalle Street Station on either the east or west side of the station requires walking a gauntlet of smokers from the Chicago Stock Exchange and nearby businesses. Once out on the streets, a minimum of every 150 feet, near a building entrance or loading dock, stands a smoker or pack of smokers. They almost all obey the current law that prohibits smoking near a door, window, or intake louver of a building, but in doing so put themselves right in the path of pedestrians. Upon arriving at our lunch spot, we walked another row of smokers near that entrance, and upon walking my wife back to her office, fought through the courtyard of smokers near her building.  This process repeated itself until I made the train back home.

I have no problem if an individual chooses to smoke; I do have an issue that I am forced to inhale someone else's smoke with no possible way to avoid it. Worse yet, when walking with my children, they have absolutely no recourse. The ban on smoking in bars made it easier for a non-smoker to go out for a drink without worrying about the condition of their clothes or lungs, but now even a person not interested in going to a specific bar has to pass through the smokers patronizing that bar who camp outside the door. When walking on a public street, everyone has the right to as clean of air as is possible (recognizing that no one would refer to downtown as pollution-free). The freedom to poison one's self should not be extrapolated to a freedom to poison others.

Chicago already has an ordinance that prohibits smoking in buildings, and within 15 feet of an entrance, window, or intake.  As of this summer, over 1,100 colleges and universities have adopted smoke-free policies.  Calabasas, CA, Boise, ID, and Greenville, SC all have bans on outdoor smoking in public places. Chicago would not be the first city in the nation to tackle such a health issue, but it certainly would be the biggest.

I understand the push from smokers to have their freedom.  I wish there were an easy compromise that did not involve having non-smokers stay in their house all day. As a new fan of The Newsroom, I watch the show and have no problem that the main character smokes in his office and his apartment (although I am sure the fictitious property management companies have some concerns). Designating spaces inside structures where building systems can better manage the pollutants, and isolate them from non-smokers makes much more sense than subjecting every non-smoker who visits downtown to a game of "where can I walk to avoid the smokers" (I am sure there will be an app available next week.).

Smoking shortens life spans and reduces quality of life for all those who come in regular contact with the pollutants - either directly or second-hand. It is reasonable from a public health point of view to severely restrict smoking to private space. I hope that after they tackle littering, the Mayor and City Council move on to clean up our streets of all their pollutants.