I can't wait to see what FREEDOMS Kalifornains allow to be taken next. Unfortunately it appears to be happening nationwide and nobody seems to care.
Posted on 03/22/2004 5:41:47 AM PST by Stu Cohen
No-smoking forces taking new territory: the beach
LOS ANGELES – Ten years after California set a national precedent by banning smoking in restaurants and bars - and months after prohibiting it within feet of government buildings and playgrounds - many of the state's coastal cities are now banning smoking at the beach.
Health and environmental officials say the moves are a logical extension of smoking bans in other public places and are necessary to meet state and federal antipollution requirements.
Some legislators, however, fear the government is prying too far into private lives, with unnecessary and overly puritanical dictums.
Solana Beach was the first California city to ban smoking at the beach when it enacted its prohibition last September. San Clemente imposed a similar ban last week. Santa Monica is likely to follow suit Tuesday, and Encinitas may vote on the issue within a month.
With the momentum of early victories, antismoking activists are taking their arguments to other coastal cities, from San Diego to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and beyond.
Los Angeles is also drafting a no-smoking ordinance for Venice, Dockweiler, Will Rogers, and Cabrillo beaches.
"This is really a very basic issue, which is that the community is standing up to protect its youth and citizens from tobacco smoke and litter," says Judy Strang, executive director of Youth Tobacco Prevention Corps, a group of teen activists that set the legislation in motion two years ago at Solana Beach.
The group, which seeks smoke-free beaches, parks, and recreational areas, approached three city councils in 2002 for provisional one-week bans.
After a routine beach cleanup produced 6,300 butts in one hour at the 1.5-mile-long Solana Beach, the group took a tub of cigarette refuse to city hall. They filmed interviews of residents, 91 percent of whom approved the ban. Partnering with the American Heart Association and the Surfrider's Foundation, they barraged city hall with testimonies and requests for action.
Months later, a more formal Solana Beach cleanup event still garnered 230 pounds of refuse, 60 percent of which consisted of wet cigarette butts. It was a wake-up call for the tiny beachfront town from both quality-of-life and legal standpoints. "We are required by federal and state laws to keep water and beaches clean, so this really got the attention of everyone in government," says Matt Rodriguez, assistant city manager at Solana Beach. Cigarette butts do not biodegrade, and they contain 200 known poisons, 63 of which are shown to cause cancer. The city council passed the ban unanimously and has reported no formal resistance or complaints since.
In Sam Clemente, the issue was more contentious. "I don't smoke and I don't like the smell, but I have never in 20 years of living on the beach heard anyone complain about second-hand smoke or cigarette butts," says Wayne Eggleston, one of two city council members who voted against the measure. He says more cigarette butts wash up from storm drains or are flicked by passing drivers than are left by smokers in the sand.
And, he says, if officials wanted to get serious about litter, they would prohibit soda cans and candy wrappers, which he says present far more of a problem. "I was really quite astounded by this vote," says Mr. Eggleston. "I just think there is a limit to what government should dictate to its citizens."
But activists and health officials point to statistics. Only 17 percent of Californians are estimated to smoke, and, according to Environmental Protection Agency data, 50,000 lives are claimed each year from second-hand smoke.
"This is long overdue," says Glenn Madalon, executive director of the Orange County chapter of the American Lung Association. "In any public gathering place where you have families, children, and elderly, you should not have to sit next to someone smoking and have to inhale it."
Many residents agree. The beach smoking ban is "great," says Dorothy Snook, a retired teacher's aide, who spent a recent afternoon at Solana Beach with her husband Darrell and a wet chocolate Labrador retriever named Sammy. "It's hard to enforce, but it's another deterrent. It gets the message across that it's not good to smoke, especially for the young people."
How the bans should be advertised and enforced are questions communities say they are currently debating. Critics question additional costs for security and signs and don't think lifeguards and other parks and recreational personnel should have to enforce the ordinances.
"Lifeguards should not be diverting their eyes even for a nanosecond from safety and life issues to tell someone not to smoke," says Joe Anderson, another city council member who voted 'no' on the new San Clemente law.
Solana Beach has not yet appropriated additional funds for enforcement. Under the Santa Monica proposal, citations that carry a $250 fine will help pay for added enforcement and signs.
The butts themselves weigh 1/100th of a soda can ... so there would have to be an awful lot of them.
When it comes to PR, tobacco smokers are their own worst enemies.
This appears to be a money-grabbing, PC effort rather than thoughtful policy but, hey, that's California, the land that I loved that I left.
Probably. I believe fires are already illegal on all LA Basin beaches.
I've never encountered one. And bonfires certainly do not generate 60% of the beach's trash.
My kids can't build a sand castle near the Santa Monica Pier without getting at least one cigarette butt per handful of sand.
Littering is still illegal. I think.
There appears to be too many "the world is my ashtray" smokers ... who are failing to police themselves and are pretty much begging for these kinds of laws. When you have 6,000 butts in a one hour beach cleanup, who are you going to blame? The left wing PC crowd? You think they went and dumped them there?
This appears to be a money-grabbing, PC effort rather than thoughtful policy but, hey, that's California, the land that I loved that I left.
I disagree. Putting recreational drug use where it belongs, in private, is a good thing, IMHO. And discouraging littering is good too. I have seen few smokers at the beach who bring their own ashtray. Most of them see the beach as one big one.
This does seem like a lot of BS, doesn't it? "After a routine beach cleanup produced 6,300 butts in one hour at the 1.5-mile-long Solana Beach..."
Charge but chunkers with littering.
What the heck does that mean?
How do you know? What were the real numbers?
Everything anti-smoking is a lie. Everything pro-smoking is the voice of reason. It's the effect of the drug *shrug*
Charge but chunkers with littering.
I guess they are being proactive. The law is the will of the people. Much like the illegality of pot. Democracy in action.
The air pollution statement is absurd. More smoke gnatsy crap
Yes, yes, it's all absurd. We all know drug use and littering are good. To state otherwise is nazi-esque.
Ah, so you see littering as providing employment?
Interesting.
Should we all eschew trashcans in order to put our tax dollars to work?
I can't wait to see what FREEDOMS Kalifornains allow to be taken next. Unfortunately it appears to be happening nationwide and nobody seems to care.
Been to a local LA beach lately?
I thought the numbers were on the low side. When a larger beach cleanup was initiatiated, 60% of the 240 pounds of trash was cigarette butts. I was only suprised at that because cigarette butts hardly weigh anything. In light of that, that is a pretty damn high percentage. It says something almost pathological about smokers in general.
Unless, of course, it's all just a big conspiracy. Which most smokers will see it as. It's the effect of the drug.
I will accept your criticism.
I believe that it is unkind to reply unkindly to anyone in the throws of drug addiction. I understand your need to lash out. It's not your fault. It's the effect of the drug.
I think it had overwhelming public support. Isn't that a good thing?
They don't allow alcohol on the beach either. Is that something that we should be concerned about?
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