ARCATA LOOKING TO BAN SMOKING IN APARTMENTS AND ON TAVERN ROW

The City of Arcata is looking to ban smoking in areas surrounding the plaza and apartment buildings. The City Council wants to expand on the smoking laws already in place.
No-smoking signs currently outline the center of the Arcata Plaza, but city officials tells us they can be doing more to protect the health of their citizens. Arcata Mayor Shane Brinton added, "That's one of the most common complaints we get visitors and residents walking along tavern row is the smoke."Tavern row is the strip of bars located at the plaza. All you have to do is just follow the cigarette butts. Brinton added, "Certainly there are smokers and we want to make sure that they still have a place that they can smoke but it can't be at the expense of the rights of non-smokers."Based on the current evidence surrounding second hand smoke, the City of Arcata has been working with ‘Tobacco Free Humboldt’ to develop this new policy. Jay McCubbrey, works for Tobacco Free Humboldt added, "the model policy proposes to eliminate smoking in multi-unit housing. To protect people in the spaces where they live and exposure to second had smoke."City officials tell us non-smokers are not happy. People living in apartment complexes have no other option than to live with the smoke. Mayor Brinton added, "we had one women call in that said her and her daughter are asthmatic. They were having problems with smoke next door and they had asked the neighboring tenant to stop smoking and he was not forth coming."In addition the proposal will also up a smoking violation from an infraction to a misdemeanor.