The Common Council met 11/06/2024. One of the items they took up was the request to take the smoking prohibition that currently exists around Valley Transit Center and extend it around the entire block that the public library is located on.
The smoking prohibition was put forth by city staff under the reasoning that the updated library will feature an outdoor learning space for children near Oneida Street and the city wants to ensure that the children are not exposed to second-hand smoke under the reasoning that the updated library will feature an outdoor learning space for children near Oneida Street and the city wants to ensure that the children are not exposed to second-hand smoke. Library Director Colleen Rortvedt stated that it was “not a veiled attempt to target specific individuals.”
During the 10/16/2024 meeting, the item was voted in favor of by a majority of the 11 alderpersons present; however, it required a minimum of 8 votes in order to pass but it only received 7 aye votes, so it failed.
At the time, alderpersons who voted against the proposal expressed concern that the ban would push people to smoke in front of nearby retail and residential buildings. Additionally, worry was expressed that this prohibition would be viewed as a veiled attempt to control the type of people who were allowed on the library premises.
Per Council rules, one of the alderpersons who were not present at the previous meeting could ask for the item to be reconsidered.
During the 11/06/2024 Common Council meeting, the item was reconsidered and this time it passed by a vote of 11 to 2 with Alderpersons Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) and Chad Doran (District 15) casting the two dissenting votes.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
One member of the public spoke in favor of the smoking ban. Oliver Zornow is recognizable as the Executive Director of the Building For Kids, but he was speaking in his private capacity. He told the Council, “The idea that curtailing a specific unhealthy behavior in a space that is used for everyone, that is owned by the city, and is for the public benefit, making it somehow less accessible to people, doesn’t land with me at all. We curtail behavior in every place, including this space. I would not be allowed to light up a cigarette in your chamber tonight, and that is against the rules of the City of Appleton and the State of Wisconsin. […] [I]t would be a shame for us to open a new space that we’ve all invested two decades and millions of dollars in, and not be prepared to activate those spaces because we are unwilling to ensure the safety of everyone participating in the programming offered by the library.”
Alderperson Hartzheim asked if the staff who had brought this proposal forward had considered any alternative, more limited restrictions when they were considering what proposal to present to the Board of Health and the Common Council.
Mayor Woodford said, “Part of the rationale for that was the clarity of the boundary, and that was really the driving consideration when putting forward that recommendation.” He declined to debate the reasoning behind the decision unless a motion to amend the item was brought forward but no such motion was made by any of the alderpersons.
Alderperson Patrick Hayden (District 7) said, “I’m little bit bothered that we’re prioritizing the rights of smokers to smoke around our library and our transit center over that of children that use these facilities and their ability to not be subjected to secondhand smoke.”
He went on to state, “I’m equally disturbed by the insinuations that have heard around the library being—prohibiting people from being there.” He believed the library was a welcoming place open to everyone and said, “I see [the smoking ban] as not discriminating against anyone, and promoting child welfare.”
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) spoke from her experience as a recovering smoker and said, “Smokers will find a way to smoke, whether it’s walking a block, whether it’s walking around a building, they will find a way. And I think that the reality is these parameters are put in place to, one, make it a little bit more restrictive, so we think twice before we take that action and, two, protect everybody else from the habit that we choose to enjoy. That’s just common sense.”
The Council proceeded to vote 11-2 to approve the request to ban smoking around the entire block the public library is located on.
[As I mentioned in a previous post, I was advocating for this step to be taken back in 2009. At the time, my request was dismissed out of hand because such a step would be mean to the people who loiter along that street all the time.
I am relieved that 15 years later the city is actually trying to take some small step to try to make that area more pleasant and accessible to regular productive members of the public. It’s absurd that the city has allowed that area to be a nuisance area for decades with people regularly smoking cigarettes and loitering in a manner that makes it uncomfortable for other members of the public to walk along Oneida Street and access the library, and I think it’s more than a little absurd that this ban didn’t pass unanimously.
If this area were owned by a private business instead of the government, it could have probably been declared a chronic nuisance premises under the existing Municipal Code just given the constant loitering to say nothing of whatever other crimes take place there. I myself have personally witnessed what looked like a drug deal take place in that area, but I could be wrong. Maybe they were just handing off bootlegged copies of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Instead, because the area is owned by the city, we’ve had to spend years tolerating activities that would be unacceptable on private property. We’ve had to suck it up and ignore all of the unsocial, unproductive people that loiter along that sidewalk day in and day out, making that area unpleasant to the rest of the community, while the city has refused to do anything about it.
My hope is that this smoking ban is the first step in city officials taking the issues in that area seriously and taking steps to make sure it is no longer a nuisance section of the city. The public library is a public amenity. People should not have to walk through a haze of cigarette smoke or run a gauntlet of scary-looking loiterers in order to access it. That’s just common sense.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1226981&GUID=4A4EFEF8-0F93-4AB5-A746-075D3ED8A998
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