News

May 7, 2010

YMCA: Kick butts out of Wilkes-Barre parks

WILKES-BARRE – Representatives of the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA want Mayor Tom Leighton and City Council to consider expanding an ordinance to make city parks tobacco-free.

The ordinance now prohibits the possession and use of tobacco products by an individual on city playgrounds.

“All we are asking is that the council considers expanding the ordinance to cover all city park property,” said Carol Hussa of the YMCA’s Action Communities for Health, Innovation and Environmental Change.

Hussa and Jim Thomas, executive director of the YMCA, asked council to pass a tobacco-free park ordinance during public discussion at Thursday evening’s council meeting. This is one of many initiatives to make a healthier community.

Each council member was given supporting information.

Council Chairman Bill Barrett said council will have to take a look at the current ordinance before amending or voting on it.

In June 2008, the city became one of the first communities in Luzerne County to join Young Lungs At Play – a statewide initiative to reduce tobacco use in outdoor public places.

Secondhand smoke is dangerous for children and adults with asthma and other chronic conditions, Thomas said. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has classified secondhand smoke as a “Group A” carcinogen, a cancer-causing substance in humans.

Non-smokers outnumber smokers in the county by about 3 to 1, Hussa said after Thursday’s meeting.

Councilman Tony Thomas Jr. said he supports the initiative.

“Small children can’t handle smoke like adults can,” Thomas said. “When you have small children in the park, you shouldn’t be smoking next to them.”

In 2009, 29 percent of adults in the county were cigarette smokers, according to a tobacco prevalence analysis conducted by the National Social Norms Resource Center. Seventy-one percent of county residents – 222,940 people – are non-smokers, according to the center’s report.

In other business, Denise Thomas, sister of Councilman Thomas, again asked council to consider installation of a surveillance camera in the corner Park Avenue and Lehigh Street.

She said there have been daytime robberies, muggings and heavy drug activity in her neighborhood.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews