To smoke or not to smoke, Palmer voters to decide on smoking ban
Von buycigarettes, 13:20
A little city in the Matanuska-Susitna valley is looking to take on the big-city issue of whether to ban smoking. Smoking is already banned in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, and in Juneau, the capitol. On Oct. 2, Palmer residents will vote on three ballot measures, one which will ban smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants.
“This is not a far-fetched idea, this is common sense,” said David Cheezem, owner of Fireside Books in Palmer and chair of Smoke-Free Palmer, the organization in charge of putting the ordinance on the ballot. Jenny Olendorff, co-chair of the Alaska Tobacco Control Alliance, said the Palmer ordinance, if enacted, would be one of the strongest in the state.
It's not the first time Palmer has looked at enacting a ban. In October of 2011, the city council narrowly voted down an ordinance 4-3 that would have banned smoking in the community. While Alaska has no statewide smoking ban, communities across the state have enacted local ones. Small coastal communities like Klawock and Unalaska have them. So does Nome, a town famous for its hard-partying, gold-rush past.
Palmer, just 40 miles north of Anchorage, is probably the one of largest communities in recent years to take the issue to vote. The town of about 6,000 people is perhaps better known for its ability to grow record-breaking vegetables. But Palmer has a bit of a wild side, too. While bars in Alaska's largest city close at 3 a.m. on the weekend, Palmer's stay open until 5 a.m.
That, coupled with the ability to enjoy a smoke during a night on the town, is enough for some Anchorage residents to make a trip to the Mat-Su. “I would say 10 percent of overall business are people coming out there so they can smoke,” said Christopher Cox, owner of Klondike Mike's Dance Hall. “They want to sit and smoke and drink. They just go together. It's like having a cheeseburger with French fries.”While Palmer bar owners are concerned about Anchorage business, they're even more concerned about locals going elsewhere. The city of Palmer is geographically small, comprising a little more than 5 square miles. Only a few bars reside in city limits, and business owners worry that smoking customers will go elsewhere, sometimes just outside city limits.
“The only three places you can smoke is in the bars, so Palmer is already smoke-free, basically” Palmer Bar owner Mary Lou Coddington said. “I don't understand the reasoning behind (the ordinance).” Nearby Wasilla lacks a smoking ban. Complicating matters is the fact the Mat-Su Borough Assembly has no health powers and cannot enact a borough-wide ordinance. Borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan said residents could vote to give the assembly health powers, but that would take a ballot proposition.
