At a City Council meeting on Wednesday, August 19, Councilor Bill Linehan introduced a proposal to add an extra $300 fine to the $100 public dopesmoking fine for anyone smoking on Boston Common or in any public Boston park. Councilor Linehan briefly spoke on the proposal’s behalf, claiming that it was necessary for the police to do their job and to make the parks safe for decent families with children, and he’d been concerned about this a long time, and it was just a coincidence he was filing it right before the Freedom Rally.
After being read aloud by the clerk, the proposal was referred to the Committee on Government Operations, where perhaps it will die a well-deserved death. We don’t know that, though, so now is the time for Boston residents to get in touch with the City Council and remind them what the voters said loudly in 2008: We want the police to do their job, and arresting dopesmokers isn’t it.