Posted on 06/19/2006 6:46:30 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Cigarette smoking would be banned at city beaches and parks under a measure tentatively approved Monday by the city council.
Sponsors said the measure will reduce litter and allow beachgoers to avoid secondhand smoke.
"To me, this is a quality-of-life issue for San Diego," said Councilman Jim Madaffer, a co-sponsor. "This is an issue that is about public health and safety."
The council unanimously approved the ban. A second vote is required before the measure becomes law.
San Diego, whose miles of beaches are a major tourist draw, joins a handful of other California cities that have similar bans, including Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica.
Violators could be fined, though the amount has not been established.
The city would spend up to $30,000 to put the ban into effect, including signs at beaches and parks, Madaffer said.
Arnold Flick, a retired physician, disputed the health effect of smoking on others.
"There is no ceiling over the people at beaches and parks to trap ambient air," Flick told the council. "There is no data anywhere that shows this kind of exposure is a danger."
Others supported the measure.
"Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world," Bill Hickman of Surfrider Foundation USA, an environmental group, told the council.
Avoid second hand smoke? At a beach with a constant breeze? That's the biggest load of @#$# I've ever heard of!
Frankly, I hate cigarette smoking, especially in bars. That said, this is outdoors in relatively uncrowded quarters.
No sense at all.
Litter is ugly, but for second hand smoke reasons... get real.
No smoking in your own home
It's for your own good...doncha know.
At a community park? Perhaps in bleechers or locations with gazebos.
I hope I never have to go to kalifornistan again as long as I live.
Actually that should be something that can be prohibited in a rental contract. I suppose it's possible a community may try to ban smoking in your front yard much like drinking in public view has been prohibited in other places regardless if you're sitting on your porch.
San Diego is my home town. I am almost speechless.
They'd be better off improving the water quality by making sure their waste processing plants are top notch.
What's some butts in the sand compared to, uh, .. yaknow. :-\
Cigarette butts are everywhere on the beaches. And please, no slippery slope arguments because beaches are public property.
Most of the outdoor smoking bans are just silly, but this one may not be such a bad idea. I'd be willing to bet allot of beaches look like ashtrays in certain spots. Of course that can be remedied with enforcing littering violations.
I hope every prospective tourist that smokes and was planing to visit San Diego cancels their plans, goes elsewhere and sends a letter stating why to the tourist dept.
Make their decision smart until they repeal it.
Smoke Gnatzies Ping
I know many of you on this list are not tobacco smokers - but if an article ever deserved a NANNY STATE ping - this is definitely one of them.
(let me know if you want on or off this Nanny State Ping list)
Ugh! Glad I got outta there after my EAOS was up in the Navy.
OMG yes! And in l.a. county all but 3 beaches will be smoke-free by July 1 (la times). Oh the injustice of it all! Wah!
I'm not defending this. But if you consider San Diego's beaches "relatively uncrowded quarters" you've obviously never been to a San Diego beach.
Yes. This is the, "Slippery Slope," we anti smoking ban folks have been talking about.
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