Community Corner

By Jennifer Andress, BTC Past President

Happy holidays, BTC! This will be a quick update on a public health issue that came up during the last month in Homewood. I have emails and texts out on some of the other issues addresses in recent columns, but no updates as of press time.

As BTC board members, President Alex Morrow and I were asked to speak to the Homewood City Council to support a tougher antismoking ordinance than the one that currently existed. In the past, I have been requested to speak to our City Council as a Homewood resident and BTC officer about smoking on the patio next to Trak Shak, at Oak Hill restaurant. The existing Homewood ordinance allowed for smoking on restaurant patios, regardless of the restrictions inside the establishment. The new proposed ordinance would eliminate smoking on all restaurant patios, and increase the distance of smoking banned by a doorway from 10 feet to 20 feet.

Photo by Sydney Cromwell. Homewood Star.

I joined about 15 other Homewood residents who spoke in favor of the new proposed ordinance. There were several runners and triathletes that spoke in favor of the new restrictions, as well as physicians, one of the owners of Little Donkey restaurant, and even a young member of a Homewood Soccer Club team. The opposition came from representatives of the e-cigarette industry. Their concern was that “vaping” would be banned in vape shops; they wanted e-cigarettes to be treated as a regular tobacco product. Homewood currently has an exclusion to its no-smoking ordinance that allows smoking in an establishment that receives 80% of its revenue from tobacco products.

Two City Council members objected to any further restrictions on smoking, because they believed it was a business owner’s right to determine if his or her patio would be open to smoking. One suggested that a patron could just leave if smoke on a patio was bothering him or her. It was also mentioned that smoking is prohibited on city property, which would include the property in front of Trak Shak.

I argued that it is extremely disruptive to remove your entire family after all have ordered and are enjoying a meal if someone begins smoking. The onus should not be on those choosing to breathe healthy air to remove themselves from a public place because someone lights up a cigarette. I told the Council that even when I am in my car with the windows rolled up, I can smell a cigarette from two lanes over. As an organization that promotes healthy living, anything we can do to protect our health and the health of our children, as well as further discourage smoking, is of paramount importance.

After a healthy debate, the proposed ordinance was sent back to committee, where it passed and is now in place. I love that the Birmingham Track Club is a part of these conversations in our communities. I feel strongly that this is one of our highest and best uses!

If you have a public issue you would like for us to address, please email me at pastpresident@birminghamtrackclub.com. I hope to have more updates for you next month. Until then, have a wonderful holiday season!