Board of Aldermen 12-23-2019 Page 21
Alderman Lopez
I’m obviously not a huge fan of smoking in public parks and I’ve pointed to fire danger issue. But it had
occurred to me and | felt like | could address this if the legislation had passed, that potentially with an
increase in the number of homeless encampments in the City and in those parks, this could be used as a
way to move people along. So! mean! am glad we are looking at it a little bit more carefully because the
parks get a lot of different usage. | do think it’s important on making sure that Number One — we are
keeping smoking away from children’s play areas wherever possible. But Number Two — we craft the
legislation that allows Parks & Recreation to figure out how to do that, like whether it is with signage or
whatever. Because some of the conversation that we had regarding this and the expense of signs was
alarming and particularly it is important that whatever legislation we come up with is understandable as a
change in policy for the City of Nashua so that people aren’t wondering which parks they can smoke in and
which ones they can’t. So whatever we craft, | think we need a lot of interaction with Public Works and
Parks & Recreation and | agree that we can work a little more on this.
Alderman Jette
| was looking forward to voting for this. | respect the reasons for withdrawing it at this time or postponing at
this time so that we end up with a better crafted law that accomplishes its purpose. So | will agree with
Alderman Schmidt to indefinitely postpone.
Alderman Lopez
If somebody is walking around in Mine Falls smoking in 20 degrees of weather, our Public Health
Department can probably point you towards some smoking cessation programs.
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd,
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN MELIZZI-GOLJA TO REMOVE FROM THE TABLE O-19-064 BY ROLL
CALL
A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:
Yea: Ald. O’Brien, Ald. Gidge, Ald. Harriott-Gathright, Ald. Dowd,
Ald. Klee, Ald. Laws, Ald. Lopez, Ald. Caron, Ald. Kelly,
Ald. Jette, Ald. Melizzi-Golja, Ald. Tencza, Ald. Schmidt, Ald. Clemons
Ald. Wilshire 15
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
