New York: Judge over turns smoking ban in state parks

Ashley Hupfl Albany Bureau

ALBANY — A ban on smoking in por-tions of state parks was struck down this week after a New York judge ruled it exceeded the authority of the state agency that created it.

Enforced by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preserva-tion, the ban created outdoor nonsmok-ing areas within staterun parks and historic sites, mostly around pools, playgrounds and other public areas.

New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, a smok-ers advocacy group, challenged the ban in May as being unconstitutional.

State Supreme Court Justice George Ceresia ruled in favor of the group, known as NYC CLASH, saying the state agency needed to receive approval from lawmakers for the ban. While he noted the Legislature had previously passed a ban on indoor smoking, bills banning smoking in parks have stalled in committee over the years.

“It was a resounding victory because the Legislature has not spoken about this,” said Edward Paltzik, an attorney for NYC CLASH. “The agency was writing on a clean slate, which they’re not allowed to do.”

The ruling requires the state to take down any nosmoking signs that have been posted since the ban was put in place.

Earlier this year, the ban was ex-panded and added to the parks depart-ment’s formal regulations. The agency set up signs that limited where smoking could take place, which included areas within 5-0 feet of buildings. Smokers faced a fine of up to $2-50 if the reg-ulations were violated.

In a statement, the parks depart-ment signaled it is “considering an appeal.”

“State Parks has legislative author-ity to manage a wide variety of activ-ities within state parks to balance often conflicting uses of our patrons,” the statement reads. “We believe this au-thority extends to the regulation of outdoor smoking on playgrounds, swimming pools, beaches, and other locations where children and visitors congregate.”

The city of Rochester has been look-ing to go further than the state reg-ulation and prohibit people from light-ing up at any time in citymaintained parks, ball fields or along trails. The city proposal, which officials had said would be sent to City Council in No-vember, would snuff out cigarettes in such places as Maplewood and Manhat-tan Square parks, the Liberty Pole, Genesee Riverway Trail, recreation centers and at cemeteries.

Reached Friday, Luis Burgos, the city’s commissioner for recreation and youth services, said he had not seen the court decision and therefore could not comment.

A spokesman for state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the office is reviewing the decision.

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Democrat and Chronicle reporter Brian Sharp contributed to this report.
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