Despite a recent AG opinion (pdf) to the contrary, the Norfolk City Council is still planning to ban smoking. This time, they are relying on the City Charter as a basis:
One is through police powers ensuring the health and safety of citizens, which [City Attorney Bernard A. ] Pishko said has enabled localities in other states to ban smoking.
Another is a provision granting the city power to “compel the abatement of smoke and dust” in addition to other “nuisances within the city.” Pishko said the provision may have been originally directed at smoke related to coal, but it doesn’t expressly state a specific kind of smoke.
I have previously laid out my reasons for being against a smoking ban. And the state law proposing such a ban failed to pass. I don’t like this end around that Norfolk is trying to do. Should they pass the ban and it get challenged, I suspect we (the taxpayers) will be spending some money to defend it.
Here’s an idea: let the people decide. If Council is so determined to get a smoking ban that it will end up having to defend, put it to referendum. If the people vote to ban smoking, then defending it using taxpayer dollars makes sense. If the people say no, then it would be over and done with.
For that matter, I would support a referendum at the state level which would allow localities to impose smoking bans – provided the localities did so via referendum. I have no problem with the people making their own decisions about their bodies. My problem is the government making that decision for me.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Fair enough.
Still, I do find your lack of faith in the Norfolk representatives interesting, especially since they are Democrats. It is also amusing that your very next post praises the new DPVA website, which blasts Del. Watkins Abbitt (R) because he has opposed smoking bans!
Norfolk council is Democratic? Hmm – somebody better tell that to some of the members 😀 As for my “praising” the new website – where do you see that?
I took your smiley concerning the DPVA website to be a mark of approval.
It sounds like more than a few republicans don’t necessarily think it’s good politics on Abbitt’s part to oppose a smoking ban, either, Mouse. I don’t think Brian Kirwin was simply being contrary by pointing to those poll numbers. On the other hand, I doubt he agrees with a lot of the stuff on that website.
Makes you wonder if maybe that site was designed to have something that appealed to every Virginian’s values, but not necessarily designed so that every Virginian agreed with it in its absolute entirity. It’s almost like Virginia Democrats are trying to court independents and independent-minded republicans….
A smiley is hardly praise. Nor is it necessarily a mark of approval. Actually, I think the site is kinda funny. That’s why I put the smiley in there.
With ocean view in flames, they can only talk about a smoking ban, the GA will never go with it, to much money made on smoking, plus it is your right no one puts a gun to your head to light up, i could say thesame thing on drinking that kill’s more people than smoking and no wants to touch that one. when i lived in cal. in the 90’s they passed a law doing the same thing state wide on smoking ban, bars still let people smoke you cannot enforce are you going to have police go into bars and look they might not come out.