SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Wendy Alexander and Cheryl Kepner are out on Siesta Key Beach visiting. It’s also Cheryl’s birthday.
“Today I’m 56,” she said, with a huge smile plastered on her face.
For them, there’s no better way to celebrate.
“We love this beach,” Kepner said. “It’s wonderful.”
There is one major issue for them and others. Smokers leave their cigarette butts in the sand.
“As a previous smoker, I would never want to walk and see cigarette butts,” she said. “That’s not good.”
Locals, Dylan Reiser and John Sirignano, agree with them. They said people smoking on the beach “ruins the beach vibe.”
“It pollutes the area, and you always see them [butts] in the sand no matter where you are on the beach,” Sirignano said. “It’s just disgusting.”
They might be in luck. Sarasota County Commissioner Mark Smith is pushing for a smoking ban on all county beaches. The ban would include cigarettes and vapes.
“We have an incredible problem with cigarette butts. They're all over the place,” Smith said. “You're walking through..it feels like you're walking through an ashtray at times.”
Sarasota had a smoke ban in place back in 2007, but a judge ruled it unconstitutional in 2012. That ruling no longer matters. State leaders passed a new law giving cities and counties the power to create their own smoking ban. The only thing they can’t ban is cigars. Some don’t understand why cigars aren’t included.
“It’s kind of the same thing,” Reiser said. “I don’t see the difference between the two. They should both be banned.”
Cigars aren’t included because that’s the law that state leaders passed.
St. Petersburg passed a smoking ban on its beaches and parks last year. It officially started on January 1.
Beachgoers we talked to are hoping Sarasota County leaders will move forward with a smoke ban and put it in place before the end of the year. Smith is hoping so as well.
