Smoking In These Places Is Now Illegal In Rochester

It's been over ten years now since Minnesota made smoking illegal in most public places, but here's one more place lighting up is now illegal in the Med City.

Yes, starting Tuesday, October 31st, you won't be able to smoke in any of the city of Rochester's five parking ramps, and related structures like elevators and stairs. According to this Post-Bulletin story, it's a change the City Council adopted earlier this month, and now extends the city's smoking ban.

"The previous ordinance prohibited smoking in parking garage lobbies and enclosed employee work areas, but the revision extends that to elevators, stairways and any other area of a ramp where a person gains access to or from a vehicle," the story noted.

The story says that city employees were spending a lot of time cleaning up after smokers, which was starting to cost the city a noticeable amount of money. And there were also complaints from fellow citizens. So, smoking's now snuffed out in the ramps, too.

You can still light up in your car, though.

But why you'd want to, though, is beyond me. I get that my parents' generation might still smoke-- seeing as back 50 years ago, just about EVERYONE smoked, and if you get hooked, it's really tough to stop.

But anyone my age-- and I'm well past the big 4-0, mind you-- knows how BAD smoking is, not just for you but for anyone who's near you who gets to inhale your second-hand smoke. So, light up if you want-- just not in the downtown ramps.