by Ethan Perelstein / The Gabber
At the May 20 Gulfport City Council meeting, Council heard the second reading of Ordinance 2025-01, a proposed law to ban smoking in Gulfport’s municipal beach area.
The ban prohibits cigarettes and other tobacco products, with the exception by State law for cigars. Ordinance 2025-01 will affect the area between the casino and the rec center from the sidewalk to the water.
Beach Smoking Ban in Gulfport
“It does not go far enough,” resident Wolfgang Deininger said during public comment.
Deininger thanked the Council for the ordinance. But, he urged them to extend the ban to include parks, the pier, and other public zones in the city.
“It’s too late to be a leader, because all the other communities already have these ordinances,” Deininger said.
Gulfport’s beach smoking ban is not all that happened at the May 20 Council meeting. Read in The Gabber about resolutions, charter review, what we overheard, city manager announcements, and permitting.
Council also heard from Arwen and Isabelle Nelson and Emma Kennedy, members of Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT). They advocated for the smoking ban’s extension to parks and other public areas. The three gave pollution statistics and outlined the harm that smoking causes to humans and the environment.
“I urge you to pass this one,” City Attorney Andrew Salzman said. “We’ll draft another one for the parks.”
He said since the beach is covered in a different part of the charter, it would be better to pass 2025-01 and then write a new ordinance banning smoking in other public areas.
“I would hope that Council wouldn’t want to wait,” Salzman said.
Council passed the ordinance unanimously. Additionally, Council requested that the city attorney draft similar bans for other public areas, beginning with parks.
Photo by Cameron Healy / The Gabber
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