As of last week, the Fruita city council has voted to ban smoking in any public space including parks and open spaces. They voted 5-1 in a public meeting to ban smoking of any kind such as vaporizers or electronic cigarettes in anything that is city-owned such as parks, recreational facilities, or open spaces. The thought of this first surfaced in 2010 but was a fail due to a 4 to 3 vote. It again surfaced this year as to try and bring a positive message to youth.

Many people signed a petition earlier this year to try and ban smoking in public because of the many brush fires we had in the Spring and Summer. The Councilors at the meeting hope it will discourage youth from underage smoking and vaping as well as keep people from getting secondhand smoke. Many people are upset because they think it infringes on their rights.

Some of the council members feel it is a bit extreme and will cause a lot of chaos, as well as lawbreakers and, will be hard to enforce. As of right now, Fruita plans on spending less than $1,000 to place signage at the parks and city facilities. Everyone will have to at least go across the street from a park or city facility to smoke even the employees for their smoke breaks.