Boulder May Consider Outdoor Smoking Ban

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- Boulder was a national leader when it banned indoor smoking in 1995. Now a proposal to ban smoking outdoors is getting support.

The proposal would move to ban all smoking on the Pearl Street Mall as well as all open spaces and parks in the city.

"It does annoy people and it is a health hazard," said Boulder Business Improvement District spokesman Sean Maher.

Maher is helping spearhead the outdoor smoking ban.

He said Boulder has always been one of the healthiest and most cutting-edge cities in the nation. Maher said the mayor and several city council members are backing the proposal.

"We've been getting feedback for years. People are annoyed by second-hand smoke even though we're outdoors.

Maher said cities in California and Minnesota have already approved the ban on outdoor walking areas and haven't had any problems.

He's hoping for a pilot program in Boulder by the end of this year.

Boulder resident Barry Kaufman supports the smoking ban along the Pearl Street Mall. Kaufman, 85, is a non-smoker but he lost part of his lung after getting cancer from second-hand smoke.

"This should have happened a long time ago but I doubt if it's really going to happen," said Kaufman. "Because smokers aren't interested in what you feel like, it's what they want."

The proposal is getting mixed reaction.

"I'm against it. Just let people be who they want to be," said smoking ban opponent Mark Azoulay. "I think that's more Boulder than trying to be healthy."

Maher said he's hearing the same arguments now that he heard before the first smoking ban passed in 1995 but he's confident that history will repeat itself.

"A lot of our restaurants then were very much opposed to it. They thought it was going to destroy their business. In fact, it didn't," said Maher. "I think people have a right to breathe clean air."

The Boulder City Council has not discussed the proposal which is still in the planning stages.