Smoking Ordinance and Smoke Outside

Smokers are free to light up on Burlington's Church Street. Just days after the city council passed an ordinance prohibiting it in certain sections, Mayor Bob Kiss vetoed the measure Friday. In a written statement Kiss said: "This smoking ordinance opens the door to difficult, inconsistent and selective enforcement." Kiss' decision was not welcome news at the Sweet Lady Jane women's clothing store. "It promotes a flow along Church Street, sometimes there were people that gathered in places, literally, just to smoke," said the store's Ginny O'Reilly. Employees at the store, like Erica Coggio, say things aren't too bad in the winter but when the summer rolls around so does the smoke. "It is always a challenge sometimes when people are loitering and we want to leave our doors open and when they are loitering in front of the store the smoke comes in and I personally can't stand the smell and I know a lot of my customers don't like it," she said. The feeling on the ban and its veto is just as split as the 8-to-6 vote from council that first passed it. "Walking down here, if I get stressed out or I want a cigarette, I can just pull one out and smoke one, if not I have to go all the way back to my house and smoke a cigarette," said Burlington resident Patricia Phelps. John Roedor is a smoker who works on Church Street. He says it's his right to smoke outside, and having to leave the area would be unreasonable. "Most of the time the only breaks that I get are my five minute cigarette breaks which wouldn't be enough time for me to leave the marketplace area to smoke," he said. The debate over lighting up may not be over. Mayor Kiss, in the written statement, says the Ordinance Committee needs to continue working to come up with an ordinance that works: "The argument that it represents a compromise just isn't good enough. Compromise is no excuse for bad public policy." The city council does have the opportunity to override Mayor Kiss' veto, but that will require 10 of the 14 councilors to be on board.