St. Louis mayor wants airport smoke-free

And that includes the airport's smoking lounges.

Slay commented on his blog this week after fielding questions from the Post-Dispatch about a conflict between the new St. Louis County smoking ban which exempts the smoking lounges and the city ban which does not. Both take effect on Jan. 2, 2011.

Slay noted that the airport is a "political hybrid," in that it is in St. Louis County but owned by the city. But the decision on smoking, Slay said on his blog, belongs to the city, "as owner of the facility."

St. Louis County counselor Patricia Redington said the smoking lounge exemption is clear in the county ordinance.

But, she added, "If the city hands out citations to smokers in the lounge, the city's authority to do so will be an issue between the city and the people who are charged and will not be the county's concern."

The nine smoking lounges have been in operation since 1997; smoking is banned everywhere else inside the airport.

Slay's comments were posted on his Web site Wednesday. Earlier in the week, Lambert spokesman Jeff Lea said the airport planned to follow the St. Louis County law.

The next day, after Slay's statement, Lea added, "The city, as owner and operator of the airport facility, can certainly follow stricter regulations than those imposed by St. Louis County."

Longtime anti-smoking activist Martin Pion and his group, Missouri GASP (Group Against Smoking Pollution), have been trying since at least 1993 to rid Lambert of smoking. About 150 airports around the U.S. do not allow any smoking.

"This is a travesty this has been going on for too long," Pion said of the lounges.

When told of the mayor's position, Pion called it "fantastic."

The exemption for airport lounges was in the county ban approved by St. Louis County voters on Nov. 3.

Airport Director Richard Hrabko had argued for the lounges in a letter to the County Council in August.

The letter said the airport had spent "several hundred thousand dollars to construct and maintain 9 smoking lounges for the use of our passengers and employees. These units have sophisticated ventilation systems and capture virtually 100 percent of the secondhand smoke."

Without them, his letter continued, "we will create a terrible situation with scores of people standing in front of the terminals and in the garages smoking and creating an annoyance to nonsmokers as well as a constant policing by the airport staff."

County Councilwoman Barbara Fraser's bill was amended to exempt airport smoking lounges after Hrabko's letter was received.

St. Louis Alderman Lyda Krewson, who sponsored the city smoking ban bill, said she would "certainly support getting rid of smoking lounges if we can figure out a way to do it. Many cities have, and I am sure we can, too."

Hrabko said in a statement this week that eliminating the smoking rooms could cause problems for nonsmokers.

"Banning smoking throughout the airport has the potential to cause significant security issues with passengers having to leave secure areas to smoke outside, and then return through security screening," he said. "We create a bigger problem for our customers by not having smoking lounges."

Slay referenced Hrabko's position on his blog, saying, "Airport director Dick Hrabko, who is retiring, has made some strong arguments in the past about the logistics and security of moving smokers outside the terminal. However, I will work with the incoming airport director to see how Mr. Hrabko's issues can be addressed."

Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, who has served the last seven years as American Airlines' managing director in St. Louis, will take over as Lambert director on Jan. 1.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)