The city of Oneonta is considering banning smoking from parts of its two major parks.

It’s one of the best ideas we’ve heard in a long time.

Mayor John Nader sent a letter to the city Parks and Recreation Commission, suggesting the wooded area of Wilber Park that abuts the Oneonta High and Middle School grounds be made off-limits to smoking.

For many years, school administrators have been frustrated by their inability to keep students from smoking there.

Because it’s off school grounds, the school has no jurisdiction, and the kids know it.

Most of the time, they’re smoking tobacco, but sometimes it’s marijuana.

Students smoke during school and after school. It’s a place for them to hang out and fool themselves into thinking they look cool rather than stupid and immature with a cigarette dangling from their lips.

"It’s potentially a fire hazard and really gives a black eye to the school," Nader told The Daily Star.

The mayor is absolutely correct, and his efforts should be applauded and encouraged.

It’s certainly understandable that smokers are feeling under siege these days, but this proposal shouldn’t concern anyone who wants to smoke while enjoying a stroll or just sitting on a park bench in another part of the park.

Not that we think smoking is a particularly wise idea under any circumstances, but it isn’t against the law. People have the freedom to smoke if they want to, as long as it doesn’t affect the health or safety of anyone else.

But smoking in that area just off school grounds and at the skateboard facility in Neahwa Park should definitely not be allowed.

That, the mayor says, would be a long-term solution. A very good idea that came up in an Aug. 6 Parks and Recreation Commission discussion about Nader’s letter would be a greater presence by the Oneonta Police Department’s school resource officer and juvenile aid officer in those areas.

Another top-notch idea came from Police Chief Joseph Redmond, who suggested prohibiting school-age children from being in Wilber Park while school is in session.

First Ward Alderman Maureen Hennessy said there is some sorting out to do about what may be legal and what might not be when it comes to restricting activities in the parks.

She is, of course, correct. We take great stock in protecting civil liberties in this country, and avoiding lawsuits is also usually good policy.

But we urge the city to be active in looking at ways in which smoking can be banned at the skatepark and particularly in the Wilber Park area near the school.

We see no good reason why this very worthy endeavor should not be accomplished before the end of the upcoming school semester.