While parks in Raleigh, N.C. have been smoke-free for seven years, two downtown parks received exemptions from that ban, Nash Square and Moore Square. However, with the renovation of the latter nearing completion, the city council decided at its Dec. 4 meeting to remove the exemptions, bringing a total end to smoking within city parks.
The ban only applies to the smoking of traditional tobacco products such as cigars, cigarettes and pipes. It does not extend to the use of unlit tobacco or e-cigarettes and vaping devices. However, the city could revisit the ban to add those items to it.
As the law is now written, smoking is prohibited in all city parks and greenways and structures associated with parks and greenways, except in areas specifically designated as automobile parking areas.
Raleigh is the capitol of North Carolina and its second most populous city, with an estimated population of just under 465,000 residents.