Unintended Consequence of Smoking Ban

Thanks to the smoking ban, city sidewalks are littered with cigarettes. Whose job is it to clean them up?

The indoor smoking ban that took effect months ago, was clearly a vote for public health. But there turned out to be an unintended consequence: cast outside to huddle in alcoves, crouch under awnings, and shiver in the rain, Huntington smokers have to do something with the remnants of their last drag.

Before, there were ashtrays inside. Now, even the most environmentally sensitive of smokers revert to a familiar strategy: Drop butt to sidewalk, grind with foot, and walk away. For affected merchants, it's an extra burden to clean up the mess that falls onto the gray area (literally) of city sidewalks.

Who is responsible to keep the sidewalks, gutters and streets clean? There isn't anything specific in the law pertaining to "cigarette butts" and their disposal. Outdoor enforcement, meanwhile, seems to be "not my problem". Although by city code you can be fined for littering, the police haven't doled out butt-flicking citations. Butt measurement turns out to be no less difficult than enforcement. Butt (pun intended), trust me - there are thousands and thousands all over our city.

Lighting a cigarette ritually re-enacts man's mastery over fire. It can be a social glue, or a simple means of flirting. It's a fundamentally deliberate act and—as any advocate of smokers' rights would argue—a matter of individual choice. But so, of course, is littering.

What is the solution, if we want to end the shame of having a cigarette-littered, and otherwise dirty, city?