Town ordinance rains on smoking parade in indoor public areas

Guadalupe council members say they've done all they could to nearly extinguish indoor smoking in their town. Now, Cruzita Armenta says she hopes to reach homes, the one indoor place where smokers can still light up. Armenta and health workers at her social service agency have visited about 500 families in Guadalupe since 1997, warning of the dangers of secondhand smoke. Many residents now step outside their homes, and Armenta is confident that the public smoking ordinance will persuade other smokers to end the habit in their homes.

"It is going to be like an awareness especially for the health of their children and themselves," said Armenta, health coordinator at the town's Centro de Amistad. It took less time for the council to unanimously pass the public smoking ordinance last week than to light up and inhale.

Tempe council member Dennis Cahill, who attended the Guadalupe meeting, said the new ordinance is among the strictest that he has ever seen. "There are no loop-holes, no special circumstances," Cahill said. "Plain and simply any indoor public space has to be smoke free."

There was no protest from residents who packed the meeting and applauded the council's vote. The ordinance will take effect in 90 days, Town Manager Tom Morales said. Notices of the proposed ordinance were sent to businesses and none responded, Morales said. There are about 50 businesses in the town of 5,500 residents.

By Peter Ortiz
The Arizona Republic
May 16, 2002
peter.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7726.

DOCUMENT DOWNLOADS
Dear MASCOT: Here's a copy of the new Guadalupe, AZ clean indoor air ordinance. This copy was sent to me by an employee of the Maricopa County, AZ health department. Guadalupe is in Maricopa County.
Download Final Legislation (44k) PDF document


MASCOT thanks Karen Zielaski, Project Manager, Arizona Tobacco Policy & Advocacy, for providing the Guadalupe legislation.