An online petition has been started to get the City of Burnaby to ban hookah lounges.
The petition cites health risks, but also safety and noise issues following a spate of recent incidents at or near hookah lounges in Burnaby.
Early Monday morning, there were two shooting incidents in close proximity to Burnaby hookah lounges.
At about 12:30 a.m., police were called to the area of North Road and Lyndhurst Avenue, where they found a 21-year-old Vancouver man who had been shot several times, according to a Burnaby RCMP press release. Witnesses said the man had collapsed in front of the PMC Hookah Lounge.
Two hours later, shots rang out near another hookah lounge across town – Living Room Hookah – on the corner of Canada Way and Smith Avenue. A 25-year-old Surrey man showed up at a nearby hospital a short time later with several gunshot wounds, according to police.
On July 1, police were called to the Bloo Bby Restaurant hookah lounge at 4052 Hastings after multiple shots were fired at a vehicle there.
In 2018, A Burnaby hookah lounge that was the subject of dozens of noise complaints was shut down by the City of Burnaby. Pure Hookah lounge appealed the cancellation of its business licence to Burnaby city council, but the mayor and councillors unanimously denied the request at a special meeting in October. Between April 2018 and fall of that year, the city and Burnaby RCMP collectively received 119 complaints or calls for service relating to the business, according to a report presented to council.
The petition cites these incidents, as well as health risks.
“For the safety, health, enjoyment and betterment of the City of Burnaby community and its residents, we, the undersigned, ask the City of Burnaby Mayor Hurley & Council to ban any and all hookah bars/lounges,” reads the petition, which can be found here. “Please rewrite City of Burnaby municipal by-laws/zoning regulations regarding the use of water pipes (aka shisha, hookah), and/or the establishments that permit it, so as to treat their water pipe use (nicotine or not) as no different from that of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, etc., in-line with Province of BC, Government of Canada, and World Health Organization guidelines for tobacco and vaping. Smoking is not permitted within public indoors spaces.”
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