Smoking Ban 'Compromise' to Lift Ban on Beach

City Attorney Andrew Salzman is drafting an ordinance he says would "resolve" the lawsuit challenging the city's smoking ban.

St. Petersburg attorney Andy Strickland has been fighting the city's smoking ban since January of last year, claiming the ban is illegal and unconstitutional. Strickland held two "smoke in" protests on the beach and filed a lawsuit against the City of Gulfport regarding a citation he received for smoking on the beach in April. Gulfport City Attorney Andrew Salzman says he's held several shade meetings, attended hearings and filed a motion to dismiss, again, on December 14, 2012. During Thursday night's City Council Meeting, Attorney Salzman told councilors about the next step regarding the lawsuit. Salzman plans to resolve the pending litigation before both parties are due back in court on Feb. 25. He is moving forward with drafting an …

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CJ

4:58 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Very good Denise!! You are perfectly correct! I am so impressed. My riddle was not really that hard, but you can be proud you are still among the few that seem to remember where this all started. I knew somebody would know! Well...it's that time of year again. All these litter projects are going to start up again, and the cig butts are still going to be the ugly truth about what needs to be done…   more ›

Gulfport City Council

Lawsuit Challenges Smoking Ban

The Gulfport City Council will meet to discuss a lawsuit filed by St. Petersburg attorney Andy Strickland regarding the ticket he received for smoking on the beach.

St. Petersburg attorney Andy Strickland filed a lawsuit against the City of Gulfport regarding a citation he received for smoking on the beach on April 21. Strickland did not provide any further details about the case. Strickland told Patch, in a previous story, that he wanted to challenge the ban in court. City Attorney Jim O'Reilly confirmed, with Patch, that the litigation is regarding a ticket Strickland received for smoking on the beach. On Tuesday, June 19, the Gulfport City Council, City Manager and City Attorney will discuss the case during a "shade meeting" at 4:30 p.m. at Gulfport City Hall. The meeting is not public. According to the agenda, the case is titled: Andy G. Strickland, Petitioner, vs. the City of Gulfport, Florida, a…

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'Smoke In' Results in Second Citation for Attorney

St. Petersburg Attorney Andy Strickland received a citation for smoking on the beach during his second peaceful protest on Saturday. Strickland wants to challenge the ban in court.

For the second time this year, Immigration Attorney Andy Strickland deliberately violated the city's no smoking ordinance and received a citation. Strickland believes that the ban is illegal and unconstitutional and wants to challenge the charge in court. Strickland tried this at least twice before, finally receiving a citation in February. He prepared for his day in court when, to his surprise, the charges were dropped at the discretion of the Gulfport City Manager and City Attorney. City Attorney Andrew Salzman told Gulfport Patch in a previous story, "We wanted to bring it forward to the Special Master, versus going through the expense of county court.” That prompted his latest "smoke in" on Saturday. ***** More than a dozen supporters …

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William Smith

10:43 am on Monday, December 3, 2012

Mr. Konigsberg, Thank-you for your legal advice, but the world has enough barracks lawyers. Lets the folks with the real law degrees fight it out.   more ›

Attorney Plans 'Smoke In' to Challenge Gulfport Ban

St. Petersburg attorney Andy Strickland plans to continue his fight to lift the smoking ban on Gulfport Beach by organizing another "smoke in" on Saturday, April 21.

Since it's passage in November 2011, only one person has received a citation for smoking on Gulfport Beach: attorney Andy Strickland. Strickland says that he deliberately tried to get a ticket, informing the city in advance of his plans to smoke in violation of the law, so he could challenge the charge in court. Strickland believes that the ban is illegal and unconstitutional. According to a Florida Statute, the regulation of smoking is up to the state, not local governments, he said. Florida Statute 386.209 Regulation of smoking preempted to state. This part expressly preempts regulation of smoking to the state and supersedes any municipal or county ordinance on the subject; however, school districts may further restrict smoking by …

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CJ

7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I have been following this story for a long time..every since I think it first was brought up about the smoking bans. Where this all started has been kinda lost in the shuffle over the bans. If I remember correstly, it was sort of a case where you can't fix one problems without fixing another. It was noted by the wonderful volunteers in so many of the litter/clean-up efforts around town that the …   more ›