A year after a Metro Council vote on whether to end smoking in area bars and casinos ended in a deadlock, Smoke-free EBR today relaunched its campaign for a smoking ban in East Baton Rouge Parish.
The coalition, with support from some Metro Council members and community leaders, held a 10 a.m. press conference at Perkins Rowe, urging city-parish officials to pass the ban, which the coalition says would protect some 3,000 Baton Rouge workers from secondhand smoke.
Raegan Carter, Smoke-free EBR spokeswoman, says the coalition also will engage in a large media campaign to drum up support and educate residents about the risks associated with smoking and the proposed ordinance, which died on the Metro Council’s floor last year with a 6-6 vote following a lengthy discussion.
“We realize this year that we have a new council and a new mayor that are more aware of the importance of the issue,” she says.
A statewide law already bans smoking in workplaces and restaurants and gives local governments the authority to expand the protections to bars and casinos, the two areas Smoke-free EBR’s proposed ordinance would specifically target.
Smoke-free EBR campaigned for months for the ban, spending upwards of $300,000 on a media campaign to educate residents about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
While doctors, hospital executives, musicians and others embraced it, the coalition encountered staunch opposition from casino executives who argued that such a ban would cause their revenues to drop. Half of the council sided with the casino execs, saying they do not believe the council should tell adults or private businesses what to do.
Carter says the coalition isn’t looking back to what happened last year on the council floor. She says 70% of East Baton Rouge residents support the ban, and the council has several new members—some of which who voted against the ban are no longer members. She’s instead focused on the message.
“There are 3,000 workers that we know that this will directly impact and provide them with healthy workspaces,” Carter says, adding that East Baton Rouge is one of the few parishes in Louisiana without such a ban.
Carter says it’s unclear when the proposed ordinance will be introduced before the Metro Council again. Details about the timeline, as well as the media campaign, are still being worked out.
The coalition, however, picked today to relaunch the campaign because it’s “World No Tobacco Day,” Carter says. The day, marked every year by the World Health Organization and its partners, highlights risks associated with tobacco use.
—Alexandria Burris
