Mayor Walsh Leading the Charge On Banning Smokeless Tobacco In Boston Sports Venues

[unhappycamper]

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/08/05/smokeless-tobacco-ban-in-new-boston-city-ordinance-from-mayor-walsh-video/



Mayor Walsh Leading the Charge On Banning Smokeless Tobacco In Boston Sports Venues
Hayden Bird
08/05/15 @4:51pm

Mayor Walsh could've been forgiven for perhaps not wanting to jump immediately back into the world of sports following his sour experience with Boston 2024, but he has done so in bold fashion. Earlier on Wednesday, Walsh announced that he will be filing for a new city ordinance, banning smokeless tobacco in sports venues (professional and amateur) in Boston.

It's a momentous step, especially for baseball, where smokeless tobacco has been a mainstay for decades. Stopping the usage at Fenway Park would be a milestone for improving public health. And the ban, which would come with a $250 fine, could be enacted just in time for next year's baseball season: April 1st, 2016.

"I am in support of banning any kind of tobacco at Fenway Park or in any public location," former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling said as part of the announcement. "I have seen cancer take the lives of people very important to me like my father, a lifelong smoker, and I have endured the insufferable agony of radiation to the head/neck. If this law stops just one child from starting, it's worth the price. Because that child could be yours, or mine."

~snip~

While San Francisco became the first to enact a similar city ordinance earlier this year (which will take effect January of 2016), it was led by the City Council. In Boston, it's Walsh who's leading the charge.