Smoking ban in city parks, beach gains public support

Overwhelming support from the public has driven the Clear Lake City Council to proceed with development of an ordinance which will ban smoking and glass containers from City parks and City Beach.  City areas not known as traditional parks would also be included, such as Three Stars Plaza, the former downtown water tower site, Splash Pad, Lakeview Drive promenade, Aquatic Center, tennis courts and dog park.

Since the Council had given City Administrator Scott Flory a unanimous nod to develop such an ordinance at their Aug. 21 meeting the city started a discussion on social media to gauge support for such a ban.  Response was good, he reported, as well as one-sided.

Mayor Nelson Crabb said positive remarks out-numbered the negative 194-15 on the City’s Facebook page and roughly 740 to 14 on local media sites.

“The commentary was overwhelming,” he said.  “As a tourist friendly town we need this.  Clear Lake is a leader in water quality and this make sense.”

Councilman Mike Callanan suggested the addition of chewing tobacco to the new ordinance and his counterparts agreed.  City leaders noted cigarette butts are not biodegradable and include toxins.  They cause harm to the eco systems in the lake.

“It’s a quality of life issue,” Parks and Recreation Department leader Randy Miller told the Council.  He said the Board chose to bring the ordinance idea to the Council as a way of addressing air quality in the