NO SMOKING? City holds smoking ordinance workshop

No Smoking?

No Smoking?

By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com

The Port Isabel City Commission were joined by several residents as the City hosted a workshop to discuss creating an ordinance that would regulate smoking within City limits.

Currently, the City does not have any sort of regulation prohibiting smoking, but the idea of a smoking ordinance has been bandied about for some time. Most recently, Commissioner Juan Jose “J.J” Zamora brought the matter to the Commission’s attention again, citing a concern for public health, which in turn sparked the public workshop Tuesday.

In 2015, the City mulled an ordinance proposed by Zamora, but it was not passed. Prior to that, the idea had been considered in 2008, according to information City Manager Jared Hockema presented to the Commission and residents during the half hour long workshop.

Hockema shared information about other cities in the Rio Grande Valley that have varying degrees of smoking regulation. While numerous cities in Hidalgo County have such ordinances, only four municipalities in Cameron County currently do.

Brownsville, Harlingen, San Benito and South Padre Island all have ordinances which regulate smoking in public areas. San Benito’s ordinance has been on the books since the late 1990s, while Brownsville’s ordinance has recently become more restrictive.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/01/15/no-smoking-city-holds-smoking-ordinance-workshop/

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