The Albany Common Council has unanimously passed an ordinance to set guidelines for new smoke and vape shops.
Councilors met Monday night, saying now that cannabis is legal in New York, some smoke shop owners could be eyeing eventual conversion to a licensed dispensary.
10th Ward Councilor Owusu Anane says the edict prohibits new smoke and vape shops from opening up within 1,000 feet of each other, 500 feet from a school and 250 feet from a religious institution.
"Well, I can tell you that the smoke shops are cropping up. And we used to have three smoke shops in the city of Albany three years ago," Anane said. "Since the legalization, we've had up to 26 and there were more that were actually applying. Some of these smoke shops were next to schools. If you look at Brighter Choice girls’ school, right across there's a smoke shop. And we don't need kids coming out of school or in their playground being enticed to want to pick up a cigarette or any type of vape at such a young age. And I think it's important that government act to protect the residents’ health, particularly our young and most vulnerable."
Anane says restrictions for cannabis dispensaries are already in place.
Simona Fish is Community Engagement Coordinator with Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities, which supports the new ordinance. She says tobacco retailer density is a matter of concern.
"There is definitely a lot of tobacco retailers in the city of Albany," Fish said. "Based on 2023 observations that our organization did, there are 90 licensed tobacco retailers located within 1,500 feet of a school in Albany, and 71 of those are located in the city of Albany."
According to Fish, high tobacco retailer density in low-income communities contributes to higher youth tobacco use rates and greater failure rates for adult smokers trying to quit. She notes there are up to nine times the number of tobacco retailers per capita in the highest poverty zip codes in Albany compared to more affluent zip codes.
Prior to the vote, two councilors with reservations about the ordinance spoke out. 2nd Ward Councilor Derek Johnson argues that there are many corner stores and bodegas throughout Albany with tobacco displays that could impress young children.
"We're telling one group that they can't do something that another group is doing on every corner, sometimes two corners. So it's just a conflicting issue," Johnson said.
"On one level, I understand the purpose or intent of this, but the practical, realistic point of view of this is that, again, you can, one, kids cannot go into smoke shops if they're not 18,” said Sergio Adams of the 7th Ward.” So again, to council member Johnson's points, kids have more access to corner stores where this is happening, and in a lot of our communities, there's multiple corner stores on one street within a two-block radius, a three-block radius, there's multiple stores that have access to this. If we're not going to address the corner stores and the you know, the amount of coverage they have over the city in regards to the items that they're selling, this is just prohibiting other businesses from doing business."
Existing smoke and vape shops are grandfathered in and will not be subject to the ordinance, which now goes to Mayor Kathy Sheehan.
