LexRides

miss ability · training wheels Joined: 25 Nov 2008 Posts: 23

I use this shortcut on a reguar basis and i bet many of you do as well. since the central baptist smoking ban, i have noticed many employees standing next to the bridge smoking. now i am noticing all the cigarette butts that are gathering near the bridge. the bridge runs over the small ditch where rain water collects. so all these cigarette butts full of chemicals are going into our water system. as if lex didnt have enough storm water issues already.

on my ride up hiltonia, (the street next to CB) i noticed a neighbor had signs in her yard saying people could not gather on that property. i stopped and asked the lady about them. She said that CB had provided them for her after she complained. This whole situation really frustrates me. CB looks all health conscious because they have outlawed smoking on their property. in reality, it is just an easy way for them to lighten the load of their groundskeepers, having fewer butts to clean up and it allows them to ignore the whole situation of what happens to the butts once they are off their property.

if you go to the CB website (centralbap.com) there is a place to leave comments. i encourage you to do so. maybe this isnt bike related enough, but the previous post about the bike community made me want to share the situation with you.

miss ability · training wheels Joined: 25 Nov 2008 Posts: 23

https://secure.bhsi.com/www.centralbap/contactusform.asp?contactprofile=Feedback

this is the link to the comments page.

politicalhero · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:27 pm Post subject:

This "smoking ban" that many hospitals are adopting is really silly. UK hospital is smoke free and the campus will be shortly if it is not already. It sucks that everyone walks to the border of the space and smokes. Right now when you drive up and down Nicholasville/Limestone you just see people smoking. Hell even regency rd (where UK hospital billing, etc is) has people just lining the road smoking.

Amy and I noticed all the butts on the ground on Hilltonia and it looks awful. CBH did not even provide an ashtray or garbage can.

Just my two cents

dotlee · Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 4

The "silly smoking ban" keeps parents from dragging their cancer stricken children out in subfreezing temperatures. They're less likely to take them to the street and there is only so much a doctor can do to keep the parents in check. It may not have totally solved the problem but, if you've ever been around the hospital courtyard, there is definitely a huge reduction in the number of smokers. It's a start just like getting a few bike lanes in the city is a start to something better. Don't knock the ban, instead support improvement.

politicalhero · Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:43 am Post subject:

You mean "smoking ban...silly."

I have been around the hospital courtyard (worked at UK for 5 years) and yes maybe there is a reduction but that is just because they are other places smoking. I am just speaking anecdotally but I think it just moved the problem and did not help to reduce it. I still see people with oxygen masks, ivs, wheel chairs, etc out on the streets around the hospital smoking.

Never did I say I did not support the ban, I just feel it has just moved the problem and created other problems such as the butts all over the ground without a trash can or ash try. Now I see "walking groups" going around campus smoking.

As for doctors, when the vast majority of them start to teach by example and lead a healthy life, then they can complain about, "only so much a doctor can do."

brokebike · cutter Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2434 Location: local

as stupid as smoking is in my opinion (in this day and age, why would anyone of this generation just start smoking?), I think the irresponsible littering aspect is often overlooked and I'm glad it's being brought up here.

Not only are smokers inhaling nicotine and smoke particulates through a wad of tiny plastic fibers (some of which also get inhaled - healthy!), but many times that toxic little wad just gets carelessly tossed wherever without any thought of what happens to it.
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elzie5000 · cutter Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 1177

fattire · Joined: 05 Jun 2008 Posts: 9 Location: Lexington

I support the smoking ban. How can a hospital not ban cigarettes unless their profit motive is so utterly disgusting?

That said, I too get frustrated that my cut through over said bridge is now always occupied by smokers. Because of where I live it is more convenient to cut through there. Super annoying. . .but the hiltonia way ain't bad.

On Nicholasville, it is downright hilarious to see all the images of gentrified health care advertising the new hospital. In these images, the new lobby of the hospital look like a five star hotel. Just down the street you'll see the real clientelle smokin' their butts. Of course class and smoking intersect (a sad truth) and the people smoking are a far cry from the slick images just down the road. . . Pretty funny.

david · hipster Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

I enjoy seeing folks smoking on the sidewalks. It is one more step in the decline of tobacco. The new tax hikes don't hurt either.

Some legislators think the tobacco industry should be protected in Kentucky, but rides in the country make it obvious that Central Kentucky farmers don't grow much tobacco any more. I think most of it is grown in South America and Kentucky's tobacco base subsidy shutdown a few years ago.

When my oldest kid was about five I heard him say that smoking was bad. The funny part is that he didn't actually know what smoking was.

My favorite story about smoking came from Al Marzian who worked with me at Everybody's Bike Shop. I complained that the ashes my dad flipped out the car window usually hit me in the back seat. Al simply replied, "My dad chewed."

sailorjames · cutter Joined: 15 Nov 2007 Posts: 329

Here's my comment to CBH:

A few individuals of similar background to myself brought up a point that I feel I should support. Due to your recent campus-wide smoking ban, the concentration of cigarette butts and other smoking related trash is increasing around the perimeter of your campus.
I understand the economical and publicity related reasons behind your smoking ban; a "cleaner" hospital without smokers is a more attractive hospital to visit. Pretty inexpensive way to bring in money, I'm sure, just a few extra words on the banners, and a few signs to buy/plant once. But I also understand that individuals and businesses alike are required to take responsibility for their decisions in a world that should be worked towards basing itself on honest principles.

The cigarette butts discarded around the streets of your hospital, instead of your grounds have a direct path into the city's water system. It is my hope now that a share of those extra profits brought in from your "extra clean hospital environment" are spent on the enforcement of cigarette refuse clean-up, cigarette litter reprimanding, and signage on litter control. I say 'and' rather than 'or' because any open-eyed member of society understands that it takes more than just signs to enforce something. If speed limits were not enforced, do you think more or less people would obey them compared to when the ARE enforced?

Signed,
A potential patient.

P.S. Maybe.
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I DO agree with smoking bans in closed environments for health reasons, but to include outside environments, to me, is a pompous publicity stunt. I'm not a tobacco user, but I also don't feel like it's fair to enjoy seeing a select group of people get the squeeze put on them. I wouldn't like it if smokers enjoyed seeing my ass almost get squashed by a minivan because there's no bike lane to ride in and the person driving feels the need to pass me erratically. Besides, those people bought the cigarettes my family raised tobacco for, and still do raise.

brokebike · cutter Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2434 Location: local

like Bob Dylan said, "the times they are a' changin'.
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politicalhero · Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:07 am Post subject:

[quote="brokebike"]like Bob Dylan said, "the times they are a' changin'.[/quote]

This is what happens when Turner gets drunks and gets on the forum! Be warned....double trouble and a lap top is a recipe for drunk forum posts!

brokebike · cutter Joined: 21 Oct 2007 Posts: 2434 Location: local

miss ability · training wheels Joined: 25 Nov 2008 Posts: 23

I have talked with Tom Eblen of the Herald Leader and given him the names of people who live near the hospital. some of these people have been cited for litter on their property, which was actually the excessive number of cigarette butts form CBH. Mr. Eblen seems to be on top of it.

i have never heard back from Ruthann Childers, the spokesperson for CBH. I strongly recommend messaging them.