Since March, it has been illegal to smoke cigarettes in public parks in Providence, Rhode Island. The ban followed similar measures in New York and many other cities. In Providence, the change has been celebrated as a boon to public health and a blow against the scourge of litter. But it has also served as a pretext to harass homeless people, according to Barbara Kalil of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project.
"We definitely do see it," says Kalil. "It's pretty obvious people who are homeless, or even look homeless, are targeted more. People that are well dressed or are coming out of the office buildings, they are not targeted."
Now, the Providence City Council is considering a more radical measure to bar outdoor smoking everywhere in the downtown business district, an area wheremany poor and homeless people spend their time. One of the bill’s major advocates is former mayor Joseph R. Paolino, Jr., who currently runs Paolino Properties, a real estate management, investment and development firm with a considerable interest in downtown properties.
[For more of this story, written by Daniel Denvir, go to http://www.citylab.com/crime/2...the-homeless/400886/]
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