Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994 TAG: 9401190026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There are four brown tables with a dozen blue, cushioned folding chairs around them. There are ashtrays on each table.
On the solid, blue door, there is just the number.
That's all.
It's not inviting - except for smokers whose craving for a cigarette is stronger than their desire for a pleasant environment.
Roanoke's tough restrictions on smoking took effect Tuesday and forced smokers in the Municipal Building to take refuge in a smoking room that easily could pass as an interrogation chamber.
Still, few smokers grumbled about it.
"I like it because it gives you privacy," said one city employeewho would not give her name.
Tuesday was too cold and icy for the employees to go outside to take a few puffs.
By 8:20 a.m., Utilities Director Kit Kiser already had made his first trip to the room.
Kiser, a pack-a-day smoker whose office is on the third floor, said he does not object to the new policy. But it will be inconvenient for him because he has been closing his door and smoking in his office.
"It's a sign of the times. I know there are some people who are allergic to smoke," he said.
Finance Director James Grisso hopes the new policy will help him quit smoking. Like Kiser, he has been smoking in his office.
Many smokers have been taking smoke breaks in the snack bar, but that is now off-limits.
"I didn't like to go to the snack bar because so many people have been smoking there and it's always filled with smoke," Grisso said. "I might begin taking a walk at lunch and take a smoke."
Joe Treadway, a real estate appraiser, said he'll go outside because the smoking room is so small. "I'll find somewhere besides there," he said.
The smoking ban is an expansion of a policy instituted several years ago prohibiting smoking in hallways, elevators and lobbies.
Under the old policy, each municipal department could set rules on smoking and designate smoking areas. Employees could smoke in some offices if the doors were closed.
The new restrictions apply to visitors as well as city employees.
If employees violate the policy, their supervisors will talk with them. If they continue to break the rule, they will be disciplined, said James Ritchie, assistant city manager.
If the employees persist, they could be fired.
A recent survey disclosed that approximately 80 of 300 employees in the municipal complex smoke. City officials believe the use of a room will cause less loss of time by employees than if they were required to go outside.
Oh yes, there's still one thing to be done: Removing the ashtrays by the elevator doors and in the building's lobby.
"No, we haven't forgotten them. We have just been too busy to remove them," Ritchie said.
by CNB