Politics & Government

RA Board Passes Wider No-Smoking Ban

Dissenting vote Cheryl Beamer says 50-foot rule "is a way to feel superior."

The Reston Association Board of Directors voted Thursday to extend the no-smoking zone near Reston facilities and to install signage encouraging people to consider quitting.

North Point Director Mike Collins had proposed the new rules in light of lobbying the last several years by local no-smoking advocates who wanted a ban on smoking on the bike paths. Collins said prior to last week's vote that he thought expanding the ban from 25 feet to 50 feet was a good compromise.

Smoking is prohibited within all RA community buildings, pool facilities, tennis courts, picnic pavilions, ball fields, multipurpose courts, garden plots and tot lots. The new rule bans smoking within 50 feet of RA facilities, though the directors have admitted there probably is not an effective way to enforce this.

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At Thursday's regular board meeting, the directors heard from several citizens encouraging the board to pass Collins' resolution. The board also heard from former board member Tom Vis, who asked them if smoking was really Reston's biggest problem.

"Is this a top 10 problem? A top 20 problem?" said Vis, whose term on the board ended in 2012. "The amount of time you are dedicating and the amount of time I remember dedicating is way beyond the magnitude of the problem. Smoking is a health problem, social problem, but not really a Reston problem."

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Things got more heated, though, when Hunters Woods/Dogwood Director Cheryl Beamer suggested the board members were racist and classist in their thinking.

"Fifty feet [from RA facilities] almost very cleverly precludes anyone smoking in Reston," she said. "Is this really the kind of policymaking we want to participate in? It is that kind of mentality that sets my teeth on edge. It concerns me that you can have a group of highly intelligent people and still have a level of ignorance. We are passing judgment on people who smoke. It is exclusionary and just so yesterday."

Beamer said she hardly ever sees anyone smoking on the bike paths or at the tennis courts or pools.

"I find it just amazing that all of you think there is such an enormous problem out there," Beamer said. "It is a way to feel superior, perhaps. Think about the statement we are making to people who smoke. This is not about a culture or courtesy for others. It is just 'we don't want you standing in front of 7-Eleven  waiting for a job. It is also code for 'if you have a mental health issue, this is a way to roust you way from the pathways.' "

At-large director Donna Rostant called Beamer's statements "preposterous." 

Then the board passed the motions 7-1 (with Beamer voting no and president Ken Knueven abstaining).

Where do you stand on RA's new no-smoking rules? Tell us in the comments. 

 

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