Councilman Asks to Repeal Tobacco Free Initiative

Updated, 6:20 p.m.

Councilman Ross Kaul announced at the PDC meeting Wednesday morning that he will ask the council to repeal the tobacco-free ordinance at its June policy work session.

Kaul, who had spearheaded the effort and has worked on it since December last year, explained that he should have had more of the community involved in the initiative.

He wishes to repeal the entire ordinance, which included banning tobacco use from all city property including parks, parking lots and sidewalks, before its effective date July 1.

Many , mainly because of the sidewalks ban.

What do you think of the repeal? Tell us in the comments.

"I think I sold this wrong," said Kaul. "I took it to the mayor and council, and the mayor and council read the data, did all the reviewing work, and thought it was good for the community, but we didn't talk to the constituents. We didn't have a grassroots effort."

Kaul added that another part of the reason for the repeal is that there's a central group on both sides of the ban issue which doesn't like the government telling people what to do.

"I think most of us were in that core group," he said. "I don't want that, either."

Even though he's asking for a repeal, Kaul assured that this is not the end of the tobacco ban. He personally apologized for the way he handled the initiative, which had , but he reinforced the idea of what the ban boiled down to in the first place.

"It's all about education, and it's about where we stand and if we want to increase the quality of life," he said. "Do we want to have another generation of children that come along as smokers? That's what it's all about."

, owner Keith Shewbert said the businesses will probably discuss if they're going to keep the petition sheet out in their shops. The petition sheets have been at many of the downtown businesses since Friday.

The June policy work session will take place June 18 at 6:30 p.m. in . Mayor Bucky Johnson advised that if the council agrees to put the repeal on the agenda at that time, the council still has to vote on it in the July 2 city council meeting in order to make an official decision about it.

The next city council meeting will take place June 4 at 7 p.m.

Don’t miss any Norcross news. Subscribe to Norcross Patch’s free newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.