HomeMy WebLinkAboutA012 - Email from Herman Quirmbach for Council, Possible city initiatives U-3ne Voss
From: Herman Quirmbach <hcgbach@ames.net>
To:Voss, Diane <voss@city.ames.ia.us>
Subject: Some thoughts on tobacco
Date: Friday, December 10, 1999 11:53 AM
DIANE-- FOR THE COUNCIL PACKET. THANKS, HERMAN Q.
To: Mayor&Council
From: Herman Quirmbach
Date: 12/10/99
Re: Possible city initiatives on tobacco
The recent focus on under-age tobacco purchase enforcement started me
thinking about what else the city could do to educate the public and
discourage tobacco use in the city. Two areas have come to mind where
we could take further initiatives, and I would like to suggest that we
direct staff to explore the possibilities in each case.
The first area is the use of our cable TV channels to do provide public
education. There are several audiences and several messages that might
be fruitfully addressed. For example,the Police Department could
produce a piece for merchants on how and when to check IDs. Such a
piece would not only benefit merchants, but it would inform teens and
the general public that they should expect to see IDs checked. Other
possibilities include health education spots using members of the local
medical community and teen-to-teen spots on how to handle peer
pressure. These are just a few ideas that popped into my head; I'm sure
there are a lot more and better ones out there. I would also imagine
that there must be a considerable amount of tobacco education
programming developed elsewhere that we could get for little or no
charge.
Some of the programming we could do on Channel 12. We could also
invite YSS or other groups to provide or develop programming for Channel
10. 1 talked briefly with Carol Kenealy,the Outreach Coordinator for
the Ames Schools,who expressed an interest in exploring programming for
their Channel 7. ISU's Channel 9 is also a possibility. As far as I
could determine at this point, none of these outlets at present is doing
much in the way of the kind of programming I'm suggesting. Each channel
reaches a somewhat different audience, so a coordinated approach seems
advisable.
I therefore recommend that we direct staff to initiate discussions with
relevant persons and groups to develop a cable TV education strategy.
Obviously, Clare Bills, Dan Edwards, and Rory Echer should be included.
Representatives from the Ames Schools, ISU, and YSS should also be
invited, and possibly also the Mayor's Youth Committee, Mary Greeley,
and anybody else who might be of help.
The second area where we could make some progress is exploring the
possibilities of prohibiting smoking in restaurants. The health risks
of second-hand smoke are well established, so that we would have a clear
public health basis for enacting an appropriate ordinance. There would
also be an educational benefit: when kids see adults smoking in public,
they get the message that smoking is OK. The less they get that message
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