user1111 wrote:
Smoking may soon be banned in Hudson County parks, with the Board of Freeholders set to vote as early as next week on a plan to force smokers to light up elsewhere.
New York City banned smoking in its parks and beaches in 2011, and Freeholder Bill O'Dea said he thinks the measure, first proposed by the Hudson County Integrated Municipal Advisory Council, would send the right message.

"I don't think it's good for somebody to be sitting on a bench smoking cigarettes when there are little kids running around," O'Dea said.

The county's legal team is reviewing the measure to determine if the ban would apply to diners at Casino in the Park, located in Lincoln Park in Jersey City.

Non-smokers strolling through Stephen R. Gregg/Bayonne County Park and Lincoln Park yesterday were supportive of the plan. Stephanie Manalastas, 42, of Jersey City, said banning cigarettes would be a "good thing."

"I don't want to be inhaling their fumes," said Manalastas, who frequently visits Bayonne Park to walk her dog, Sushi.

Laura Sariego, 64, of Jersey City, is a smoker, and not surprisingly does not want to be forced out of the park when she wants to smoke.

"It's a public place where I should be able to do what I want," Sariego said. "They're banning it everywhere."

The county operates eight parks: the aforementioned Lincoln and Bayonne parks, as well as Columbus Park in Hoboken, James Braddock Park in North Bergen, Washington Park in Union City and Jersey City, West Hudson Park in Kearny, Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus and Mercer Park in Bayonne.

Both Manalastas and Sariego said they wouldn't mind designated areas in county parks where smokers can light up. O'Dea said he, too, would support such a plan.
"I don't think it's practical that we would be enforcing it everywhere in the park," he said. "I just don't think it's realistic to do."

The freeholders' next meeting is next Tuesday at 4 p.m.