Sewickley garden club proposes making Wolcott Park smoke-free
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A Sewickley garden club that has been active since 1960 is trying to get Wolcott Park to be smoke-free.
Linda Pell, chairwoman of Trowell & Error Garden Club, addressed council Nov. 10 with the idea, which involves utilizing the state Department of Health’s Young Lungs at Play program. It’s designed to create tobacco-free parks, playgrounds and recreational areas for children.
Pell of Sewickley Heights said of the 1,150 communities throughout Pennsylvania participating in the program, there are 73 communities within Allegheny County. Some of those include Homestead, Monroeville, Munhall, Mt. Oliver, Dravosburg and Forest Hills. Sewickley is not on the list, she said.
The participating communities are listed on the state department’s website under what it calls an honor roll.
Pell said being part of the honor roll would afford the borough signage from the state and a newsletter to give residents letting them know the park is smoke-free.
Trowell & Error Garden Club acts as the steward of Wolcott Park, said Janet Renner, the club’s president.
The club is one of four represented in the Sewickley Civic Garden Council. Each club is responsible for tending to different flower and plant gardens in the area.
Trowell & Error holds periodic cleanup events at the park, plants flowers and plants and decorates the park’s gazebo for various seasons and holidays, Renner said.
“During covid, there’s more and more people trying to sit in the park to talk. And it’s been getting to be a nuisance with cigarette butts everywhere,” Renner said.
That’s why Pell and Kathleen Wycoff, both members of the club’s board, took it upon themselves to take a stab at making the park that sits among the hustle and bustle of downtown Sewickley a smoke-free area, Pell said.
“Families, in general, won’t utilize the park because smoking inhibits them from sitting and eating,” Pell said. “That’s where we’re coming from.”
She said if the borough supports the initiative, it would cut down on exposure to carcinogenic secondhand smoke and litter.
“We pick up so many cigarette butts,” she said, citing multiple sources that point to the fact that cigarette butts are the most littered item on the planet.
Pell also said banning smoking in the park would align Sewickley with the 2009 National Park Service executive order banning smoking on all federally owned parks. Many states — such as Oklahoma, Maine and New York — enacted similar policies since then.
Following Pell’s comments, council members said they would consider an ordinance setting rules in the park, and offered support to making the park smoke-free.
“I think a lot of people are courteous when they see an area designated to nonsmoking,” councilman Tom Rostek said.