Smokers on the outs at Palm Beach County governmental center

By at 22 January, 2010, 1:10 pm

Smokers are finding themselves more unwelcome at Palm Beach County’s Governmental Center in downtown West Palm Beach. County Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson has called for outlawing smoking in the outdoor areas outside the commission’s sixth-floor meeting chambers. The balcony and rooftop sitting areas are gathering spots for commission meeting attendees as well as county employees on their breaks. After complaints from visitors about second-hand smoke in those areas, Aaronson earlier this month called for county staffers to research making them off-limits to smokers. He said anybody who wants to smoke should have to leave the governmental tower. “Everyplace you go today is smoke free,” Aaronson said. “People ought to get the message.” Some picnic tables in the

courtyard area outside the governmental center on Olive Avenue have ash trays, but that would make for a longer walk and longer smoke break for county employees accustomed to ducking outside on the sixth floor to smoke. It could also concentrate smokers outside the front door to the main entrance of the building. Aaronson’s proposal comes after Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon enflamed smokers by announcing in October she would no longer hire anyone who regularly uses tobacco products. Gannon, who also has offices in the governmental center, argues that smokers stick taxpayers with paying for rising health-care costs.

Original post:
Smokers on the outs at Palm Beach County governmental center

Categories : West Palm Beach




No comments yet.

Leave a comment