New Albany To Consider Smoking Ban

The New Albany City Council will begin considering a smoking ban Monday. But the final vote on the ordinance is almost a month away.The comprehensive ban outlaws smoking indoors, except for private residences, private clubs with no employees, retail tobacco stores, and hotel and nursing home rooms set aside for smokers.Councilman Bob Caesar is sponsoring the legislation. He says he’s not sure which way the council is leaning on the issue, and many citizens have yet to weigh in.“There’s this, this great large silent majority that really isn’t saying too much publicly and they really this thing passed," he says. "But then there’s a contingency, that they want their cigarettes and they want to smoke them inside.”Caesar says a compromise to allow smoking in bars and clubs is possible. A similar comprehensive ban was proposed last year, but set aside indefinitely.The ordinance will be voted on three times, with the final, deciding vote to be cast in early September.