FRIDAY
February 9, 1996

NEWS photos Mike Wakefield

KAP 100 smokers Mike Mirtle (left) and Christine Booth (right) take a break on the recently moved smokers’ bench at the Kap
190 building. The taped-off area ccntaining the bench can be cold and windy, but the change benefits workers indoors.

Smoking issue
on a slow burn
outside Kap 100

THE LINE between smokers
and non-smokers has been
drawn at the Kap 100 build-
ing in West Vancouver.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

Smokers say they were once
allowed to puff freely on a large deck. Buta few
weeks ago smokers were limited to a 2.7-metre
(9-ft.) by 1 t-metre (36-ft.) area outlined by yel-
low tape.

Complaints of smoke being inhaled through
building intake vents and exhaled into offices
fuelled the change.

An employee of a stuck brokerage firm. a
self-described vehement anti-smoker. said he
could smell smoke in bis offtcer whenever some-
one lit up in areas under vents.

Since smokers have been relegated to areas
away from vents, there lave been no smoke-
related problems, he said.

SMOKERS TOE the line at a West Vancouver office tower.

Smokers enjoying their habit inside and just
outside the yellow rectangle said if that’s the
case. they understand the problem.

Said one. “I don’t have any objection to not
inconveniencing other people.”

Sull, they complain the area they have been
limited to can get very cold and windy.

Said Claude Saint Amour, “We're no longer a
dying breed. We're a cold dying breed.”

Some called the yellow lines childish, and
added that signs would have done the trick, In
defiance, Christine Booth said she deliberately
smokes outside of the fines.

She called building management crazy if it

thinks a “little yellow line will
make me smoke over here when
it's cald and rainy.” she said.

Although the smokers’ are:
has a roof over it, at times the
smokers’ turf is more prone to
the elements than other areas of
the patio.

It's all part of the persecu-
tion of smokers, said Booth and
fellow puffer Mike Mirtle.
Mirtle notes regulations have
controlled smoking in restau-
rants, banned it in some build-
ings and some are calling for
restrictions to smoking in bars.

“It never seems to end. They
always find a new way to cul back on the places
we can smoke,” he said. “Where does this stop?”

Building management representative Bev
Greene told the News a smoker's bench was
moved over three metres (10 ft.) to prevent the
smoke from entering intake vents. Although
smokers say their smoking space has been cut.
Green said it's exactly the same area that had
always been set aside for smokers,

She acknowledged the area where the bench
is may be colder, but added: “Maybe they would
like to be downtown where they have no areas
whatsoever, They have to stand outside the
door.”

Weather

Saturday: Sun and clouds
High 11°C, low 2°C.

Tougher bylaw
backed locally

NORTH VANCOUVER City
Coun. Darrell Mussatto is calling
for tougher smoking regulations
than those put forward
Wednesday by a Greater
Vancouver regional health
agency.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

Mussatto was appointed by city
council to represent its position on the
smoking issue at a Lower Mainland-
wide committee. He said a compromise
that bans smoking in public places such
as malls and restaurants, but does not
restrict smoking in pubs, bars or
cabarets. does not go far enough.

Under the proposed regulations, non-
smoking areas in casinos and gaming
halls will be determined by the gaming
commission.

Mussatto wants smoking restrictions
and non-smoking areas to be extended to
bars, pubs and cabarets.

“T thought that was moving back-
wards.” he said of the compromise
reached by the Metropolitan Board of
Health and the hospitality industry. He
added the board of health “sold the farm
and let the hospitality industry get their
way. We could be doing better than what
we have done in this deal. We should be
more progressive.”

Mussatto said other municipalities.
including Pitt Meadows and Surrey, sup-
ported his position.

Mussatto said the committee met to
provide the Greater Vancouver Regional
District (GVRD) with information on
the municipalities’ positions on the pro-
posed regulations. The GVRD will draft
a bylaw that will go to all GVRD munic-
ipalities, including the three North Shore
municipalities. as soon as possible. The
goul is to obtain regional consensus on
smoking bylaws, said Mussatto.

North Vancouver District and West
Vancouver District were not represented
at Wednesday" necting.

See Councils page 3