Ridley approves smoking ban in parks and fields

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP >> With the approval of Ordinance No.2029 by the commissioners at their March meeting, township parks and athletic fields will now be tobacco free.

“Tobacco-free parks provide children with a clean and healthy place to play, as discarded tobacco waste makes parks and playgrounds look dirty and uninviting, as well as costly to clean up,” said Commissioner Tom Donahue, who spearheaded the move to ban tobacco products in parks in the township over the past month.

Donahue quoted from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that classify second-hand smoke as a Class A carcinogen, a substance known to cause cancer or serious illness, including asthma, respiratory infections and cardiovascular disease.

“Second-hand smoke has been estimated to result in at least 38,000 deaths in the United States, and over one million illnesses in children,” Donahue said.

In enacting the new statue, the township joins a growing number of municipalities in Delaware County that have implemented a 100 percent tobacco-free ordinance through a program known as “Young Lungs at Play.” The no-cost, tobacco-free program is supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health through a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is administered by the Health Promotion Council.

Among the other municipalities in the county participating in the tobacco-free program are Glenolden, Swarthmore, Upper Darby Township and school district, Darby Borough, Concord, Sharon Hill, Ridley Park and Eddystone.

The “Young Lungs at Play” program provides free metal signs for the recreation areas that designate them as tobacco-free areas.

In another matter, the commissioners gave an update on the library expansion, with construction slated to start later this spring. The estimated cost of the addition is $2 million. The new 15,000 square-foot facility will be built at the southwest end of the township administration building. It will have its own entrance with the adult and reference libraries, and children’s on the same level.

The current library will be converted into additional space for the code department and the police department as well as other township administrative offices.

Before the business part of the meeting got underway, a swearing-in ceremony took place to mark the promotion of two veteran police officers to the rank of sergeant. Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Gregory Mallon administered the oath of office to Michael Bongiorno and Edmund Kienzle. library all