Smoke break
While the continuing investigation into the Greensboro Police Department was the focus of the story on Tuesday's City Council meeting, council member Sandy Carmany also asked council to consider at its Feb. 7 meeting making the city-owned Greensboro Coliseum smoke-free.
Assuming council approves the resolution, Carmany said, coliseum management would be left to devise alternative arrangements such as an outdoor smoking area.
The coliseum now restricts smoking to a portion of the building's interior on the north side of the lower level along with a covered but non-climate controlled area outside the northeast side of the arena.
Nonsmokers who use the entrance have to walk through a cloud of smoke, and smoke sometimes drifts to the coliseum's second-floor concourse.
The General Assembly approved legislation last year exempting the coliseum from a state law that requires 20 percent of public facilities be set aside for smokers.
If City Council votes in favor of making the coliseum smoke-free, the coliseum will likely be entirely without smoking during ACC and NCAA tournament games in March, said coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown. That's because the existing outdoor smoking area will be in the midst of two ACC-sponsored hospitality events.
For future events, smoking would likely be allowed at the existing outdoor area along with a second undetermined outdoor site, Brown said.