@100, wrong, the the rule for parks establishes a 25' per another around playgrounds, sports fields, beaches, and other patrons. Redundancy!

BTW, I think the laws against drinking in parks are BS too. If you're not littering or behaving like a jackass, there is no problem. Not that it's enforced.

Options for smokers:

1) Stand on the yellow line in the middle of the street. In a city, that is basically the only place you can stand still and be 25' from all buildings. Keep your hips loose to avoid rear-view mirrors.

2) You may smoke and walk on the sidewalk, but you MUST. KEEP. MOVING. Do not stop. Do not look back. A horrified gang of Bellevue woo-wives and yoga instructors will be following you, fanning their noses. You will be stomped to death by stiletto heels and toe shoes if they catch you.

3) Purchase a $1,000,000 Seattle home and smoke all you want, Captain Smelly.

4) Leave Seattle.

I don't like smoke, but I'd rather a person go out for a smoke in park than in the apartment next door.

But I agree with @63. I don't see much point in putting yet another minor law on the books when the SPD officers routinely use their "discretion" to not enforce comparable levels of laws.

I've lived about a block from the SPD station on Virginia for 13 years and see the officers out and about on a regular basis. And only once in those years have I seen one of them jump into action: An officer stopped at a red light on 7th at Virginia ignored the white cyclist who blew past him through the red light but got out of his car a few seconds later to confront a young black man with a skateboard who crossed Virginia against the same red light.

I despise cigarette smoke, yet this is clearly going too far. It's outdoors and in open space well away from anyone's open window.

If second hand smoke and other health concerns are the reasons to ban smoking in the park, then Parks &Rec should ban bonfires on the beaches. Smoke from these bonfires get so thick and acrid, it's pretty hard on the non asthmatics too. Not to mention the mess on the sand afterward.

But wait, didn't cops recently get in trouble for ticketing pot smokers? How is this sort of thing going to be enforced?

I thought progressives were the tolerant ones? This thread proves just the opposite

I am highly allergic to cats, somewhat allergic to dogs and deathly allergic to horses. I need to carry my over-priced Albutorol inhaler with me at all times.I am not alone. Please Major Murray ban the aforementioned animals from all public places and find the funds in your budget to enforce this unnecessary risk to my health.

It isn't just the smoke that's the problem. Anybody have an idea how toxic and polluting hundreds, thousands, hundred of thousands of cigarette butts are to streams and rivers and oceans (which is where that shit ends up)?

Kills fish. Poisons wildlife.

@118, another redundancy in your argument. Littering is against the law already. I'm a smoker, and I dispose of my butts responsibly, especially in parks. If the litter from butts is your concern, you should advocate for more garbage cans on our city streets. If concerns about litter in parks is part of your justification for banning smoking in parks, then you should also advocate for banning other things that might create litter in a park.

WTF do I care I'm a White middle aged middle class male no one is going to bother me if I'm walking through the park smoking.

Yay. More fucking laws. Awesome.

If they cared about banning tobacco smoking in parks, they would have done this eons ago. This isn't even about the homeless. That's a red herring. This is really about weed. What they REALLY want is for people to not just be smoking weed out in public, now that it is legal in the state. There is a burgeoning weed-related tourist industry, etc., and the old guard do NOT want Seattle to smell like a giant burning skunk. THAT is the real issue here. They know they are losing the battle, this is all about trying to exercise the final bits of control they have over the situation.

Again, redundancy. Smoking weed in public ANYWHERE is illegal.

Who's this ass clown, Heidi? Ever hear of NYC? Smoking ban has done wonders for the Big Apple, even saved lives. Apparently The Stranger is hiring morons these days.