Smoking Ban

Sgt. Steve Ang pedaled his police bicycle up to a woman on the city's Boardwalk on Tuesday and kindly asked her to take her cigarette to the other side of the Music Pier.

The young woman rolled her eyes but did as she was told, joining a handful of vacationers in one of seven rectangular smoking sections of the city's famous wooden way.

The new Boardwalk smoking ban is decidedly unpopular with smokers. but police said they have met with little resistance from scofflaws.

The city has not fined anyone since the ban went into effect in May. Instead, police have warned 200 to 300 smokers each week, Ang said.

"It's like no bare feet on the Boardwalk or sitting on the railings. It's just one of the things we do for public safety," Ang said.

Smokers are adjusting to the new rules but some groused about the smoking areas, which are outlined in green paint along the beach railing like an imaginary room.

City Council approved the smoking ban in April after 19 Boardwalk fires were blamed on discarded cigarette butts. One of those blazes caused more the $1 million in damage and destroyed two stores.

The Fire Department on Tuesday said that because of the long, wet spring, it was hard to say whether the ban was working to prevent Boardwalk fires.

Police said the biggest problem for them has been informing new batches of vacationers each week about the latest prohibition. They plan to give posters to local hotels and inns and print
some Boardwalk maps showing the designated smoking areas.

Michael Miller - Staff writer Press of Atlantic City