NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — An ordinance that would significantly limit where you could smoke in New Orleans, is getting support from voters.
A poll released Tuesday by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network showed 66 percent of New Orleans voter favor an ordinance that would extend the smoke-free law to all workplaces, including bars and casinos.
In November, an ordinance introduced to the city council took that one step further and would ban smoking in or near public parks.
“People don’t come to New Orleans to smoke. They come here to partake in our culture, in our music, in our food, and it is time for us to be a progressive city,” Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell said then.
The poll also showed that voters overwhelmingly said the rights of employees and customers to breathe clean air are more important than the rights of smokers and owners to allow smoking.
Cancer Action Network commissioned the poll done by Public Opinion Strategies. The telephone survey was completed December 16-18, 2014 among 200 registered voters in New Orleans.
Councilwoman Cantrell said the ordinance this will head to a committee and then before the Council for a vote. She expects the council to vote to come after Mardi Gras in February or March.
