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Michigan City council workshop debates citywide smoke-free ordinance, opts to draft compromise
Summary
Council members, park staff, public-health advocates and residents debated a proposed ordinance to ban smoking on city property and outdoor recreation areas; concerns focused on enforcement, park revenue and legal limits. Council agreed to work with the city attorney on a draft.
Michigan City council members, park officials, public-health advocates and residents spent a workshop session debating whether to extend smoke-free rules beyond building doorways to all city-owned grounds, beaches and parks.
Councilmember Greg, who presented a new draft that he said "removes smoking from all city property," framed the meeting as a search for compromise between an 8-foot buffer and broader outdoor limits. He said the goal is to protect employees and create family-friendly public spaces while avoiding criminal penalties for addiction.
Supporters cited health and fiscal data. Greg pointed to county- and state-level numbers on tobacco-related illness and said LaPorte County has a high adult smoking rate; a health advocate representing the Indiana Department of Health was asked to provide the calculation method for an estimate Greg cited that secondhand smoke imposes about $36,400,000 in local…
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