SCHENECTADY — A new study from an Albany-based anti-tobacco organization highlights the proximity of licensed tobacco retail shops to Schenectady schools in neighborhoods with high poverty rates.
The group, which is funded by a grant from the New York State Department of Health, gathered information on licensed tobacco retailers located within 1,500 feet of schools in Schenectady County, with 38 of the 53 located in the City of Schenectady.
The study notes that there are 10 tobacco retailers located within 1,500 feet of Hamilton Elementary School, with six located near Keane Elementary and five near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, where the poverty rate in the Hamilton Hill neighborhood was 34.3% in 2021 according to census data. The county’s poverty rate was 13.6% during the same timeframe.
Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities Director Judy Rightmyer provided the report to the Schenectady City Council during its meeting on Monday evening, with Rightmyer noting that high poverty areas in the city are inundated with tobacco marketing.
“The two main takeaways from this are that low-income neighborhoods have more tobacco retailers per capita than higher income neighborhoods and that those same neighborhoods have disproportionately higher numbers of tobacco retailers located near schools,” she told the council during the public comment portion of the meeting. “We looked at 31 tobacco retailers who were within 1,500 feet of schools on one day in October.”
The council declined in October to move forward with a proposed six-month moratorium on the establishment of new smoke and vape shops in the city. The proposal would not have eliminated established smoke shops in the city that comply with city code.
Schenectady requires tobacco retailers to procure certificates of use in order to operate in the city.
Councilwoman Doreen Ditoro, an advocate for the moratorium who has expressed concern over smoke shops opening in the city without permits, said on Tuesday that she hopes that the council will revisit the proposed moratorium.
The council’s City Development and Planning Committee declined on Oct. 2 to send the proposal to the council for a full vote, with the council pointing towards efforts from the city code enforcement office to bring current smoke shops without permits into compliance.
“I want to see it reconsidered,” Ditoro said. “They’re (smoke shops) just popping up all over the city, especially on upper Union Street. That’s a vibrant area with the dance studio (Dance Me) there. They have flashing lights and things that draw attention to it and you have kids going to dance there. I’d like them to reconsider it just to put a tiny pause on things. Let us get some zoning in place and move forward from there.”
The council is currently weighing overlay zoning changes that would stipulate where smoke shops and cannabis dispensaries could each be located in the city.
The city’s corporation counsel office presented an initial draft of the zoning based on council recommendations in October.
Rightmyer said that Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities found instances of stores located within 1,500 feet of schools advertising tobacco products to children, a violation of state law, with the violations reported to the state.
All tobacco retailers are required to obtain a certificate of registration from the State Department of Taxation and Finance.
“The stores in Schenectady have disproportionately higher amounts of tobacco marketing and promotion, especially flavored products in those neighborhoods with the least number of resources,” she told the council on Monday.
The group’s study recommends that the city should reduce tobacco retailer density and adopt zoning and licensing changes in order to reduce youth exposure to tobacco.
A proposed local law introduced in the City of Albany this month proposes that Albany would bar tobacco retailers from opening within 500 feet of a school or public park or within 1,000 feet of an existing tobacco retailer.