Councilman G. Bruce Ward will introduce a total smoking ban for Atlantic City casinos.  The City Council meeting is this Wednesday, 26 March, 5pm in City Council Chambers. 

Associated Press reports:

Councilman Bruce Ward said Friday he will introduce a measure at next Wednesday’s council meeting to ban all smoking on the casino floor. He said three others on the nine-member council have said they will support the measure and that he is close to convincing a fifth member to sign on.

Councilman Ward’s proposal supposes that government can and should make business decisions on behalf of casino gaming.  It is peculiar that Councilman Ward would rather use the bully-power of the government, rather than the power of persuasion to convince casinos to ban smoking.

On Saturday, 22 March, the Smokers’ Rights Association of America was formed.  The SRA plans to protest Councilman Ward’s planned city government intrusion in to casino gaming.

We agree with SRA that the best thing City Council can do to “move the city forward” (quoting that too often uttered vague phrase) is to get out of casino gaming’s way.

You can contact Atlantic City Councilmen to dissuade them from supporting the smoking ban.

Councilmen At-Large:

   George Tibbitt, 609.347.5241, gtibbitt@cityofatlanticcity.org
   John Schultz, 609.347.5243, jschultz@cityofatlanticcity.org
   Eugene Robinson, 609.347.6491, erobinson@cityofatlanticcity.org

Ward Councilmen:

6th – Tim Mancuso, 609.347.5238, tmancuso@cityofatlanticcity.org
5th – Dennis Mason, 609.347.5233, dmason@cityofatlanticcity.org
4th – William Marsh, 609.347.5242, wmarsh@cityofatlanticcity.org
3rd – Steven Moore, 609.347.5230, smoore@cityofatlanticcity.org
2nd – Marty Small, 609.347.5231, msmall@cityofatlanticcity.org
1st – G. Bruce Ward, 609.347.5232, bward@cityofatlanticcity.org

The At-Large spots are up for grabs next year and all seats can be re-called because of people’s anger over the smoking ban.