Posted on 01/19/2008 7:10:50 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
As 19-year-old Jon Little crossed Magnolia Boulevard on Dec. 10, cigarette in hand, he failed to notice the police officer on Olive Avenue.
As he crossed the street, Little, a student at Antelope Valley College, was cited and fined $200 for smoking in Downtown Burbank, a violation of the citywide smoking ban that bars smoking on all sidewalks, alleys and other pedestrian areas Downtown, as well as on city property, including Chandler Bikeway and in parks.
“I was here to see a movie and had no idea there was a citywide ordinance,” he said. “This is an unreasonable law.”
The City Council passed the ordinance 3-2 in March. The ban took effect May 12, but Burbank Police didn’t begin enforcing the law until August. Since then, 301 people have been cited for violating the ordinance, Police Chief Tim Stehr said.
Though Burbank Police have cited more than 300 people since August, the department has not been bogged down by the added enforcement, Stehr said.
“It’s just one aspect of our job that indicates we are enforcing the law,” he said. “It’s not taking away from anything else. We have not seen a huge increase in response time because of the ordinance.”
The base fine for smoking in areas where lighting up is banned is $50, though that fine can be more than $200, Stehr said.
While police have been citing more smokers, the fines do not represent a financial windfall for the department or the city, he said.
“We get a very small percentage of [the fine],” he said. “We’re not out there making money.”
The city receives about 10% for each ticket, with the rest allocated to various court-assessed fees, Stehr said, though the exact amount of money the city and the court receive is incalculable.
“All fees from the smoking ordinance are lumped in with all other citations,” Principal Planner Michael Forbes said.
Other cities have also grappled with smoking bans in public places.
In 2006, smoking was banned in a number of outdoor places in Santa Monica, including the 3rd Street Promenade, beaches and the Santa Monica Pier.
Since the ban went into effect on Thanksgiving Day in 2006, more than 100 people have been cited, said the city’s consumer affairs specialist, Paula Rockenstein.
“It has been a success, though more work needs to be done,” she said.
The number of people cited in Calabasas, whose ban of smoking in public places went into effect in March, also pales in comparison to Burbank’s enforcement.
As of September, Calabasas has issued 240 warnings and 20 citations, said Michael Hafken, the city’s public information officer.
Still, Burbank Police say the number of citations officers write is exactly where it should be.
“We’re trying to balance both sides of the debate between people who think we’re not doing enough versus people who think we’re doing too much,” Sgt. Travis Irving said.
“Three-hundred tickets is really not that much. It doesn’t seem lacking or excessive.”
Enforcement aside, some residents are calling for an increase in education.
“You’ve got a lot of people who are truly ignorant of the law,” said Michael White, 47. “Writing tickets is one thing, but educating people is another. It’s not just a matter of citing people.”
To that end, officials opted for a more accurate anti-smoking sticker on doors and windows of Downtown businesses that would better reflect the law.
Old signs posted in business windows that said “No smoking within 20 feet of all entrances and exits” have been changed to read “No smoking in Downtown Burbank.”
“We realized it was leading to some confusion everywhere,” Forbes said.
“People were under the impression that as long as they moved 20 feet away, it was OK to smoke.”
City Hall also changed from the 20-feet sign to “No smoking on city property.”
“The feedback we’ve gotten is that the [new signs] send a better message,” Forbes said.
Embedded in the ordinance is an exception to the smoking ban for certain businesses that can apply for immunity for a section of their restaurant.
In Downtown, three establishments have applied for and received approval — Fantasia Billiard, Cafe Gitana and Café O’s — and another, Burbank Bar & Grill, applied for the exception but was denied, Forbes said, because it is primarily a restaurant.
“Burbank Bar & Grill applied and didn’t get it because they have a conditional-use permit that limits the function of their business to alcohol in conjunction with a restaurant,” he said. “Cafe Gitana and Café O’s are hookah bars, and Fantasia is a billiard hall with an exception for their outdoor dining area.”
For one restaurant, the exemption has not increased patronage.
The crowd hasn’t necessarily been larger,” said Momtse Orriols, who works at Café O’s. “We have maintained the same crowd.”
Officials are still mulling a public area Downtown where smoking could be permitted, but they haven’t found the right location.
“We have not designated an area because we haven’t found one we really think is appropriate where somebody would not be exposed,” City Manager Mary Alvord said.
“We looked at the alleys, but that’s how a lot of people enter Downtown.”
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We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, tea totallers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.
Seems to me that this fellow has a good case to make in fighting the violation in court. Unless there are signs posted all over every public space in the town, how is a visitor supposed to know that the use of a perfectly legal product is illegal in this place?
At any rate, I would refuse to do business in any municipality that has an anti-smoking ordinance like this . . . so Jon Little should take his money elsewhere the next time he wants to see a movie.
This is just __________ ridiculous. Enough already.
Good evening, Sir Eric. I hope all is well. :-)
Nanny State Ping!
These people just won’t stop, will they?
Alas, there are many here on FR who actually support this kind of nonsense.
Tobacco will soon be illegal. The Mexican gangs will then supply it at a price about 100 times what it now costs. They will make so much money that they can buy tanks and F-15’s and will become the de facto government of Mexico. The War on Drugs, it works every time it’s tried. For the gangsters, that is.
You can’t ignore the law. I’ve had some experience here in the DPRNJ.
Just for kicks and giggles, you can smoke in a bar, get a summons and bank 100% on the fact that the “witness” to the “crime” will not take 6 hours off from her job to show up in court to testify againt you.
Case dismissed.
Of course, you have just wasted 6 hours of your life. Although I was thoroughly entertained for those 6 hours. It was much better than Judge Judy. I had fun.
Exactly. Ban it already. This social engineering and coercion is ridiculous and anathema to a free country.
It is hysteria, plain and simple.
Didn’t the voters of Nevada ban smoking in the casinos recently?
It’s a shame Johnny Carson isn’t around to make “beautiful downtown Burbank” jokes about this anymore, isn’t it?
You would think that by now, someone would have invented a smoking device where no combustion smoke of the tobacco would be released, and the smoker would exhale through the device, which would only put out hot cleaned air. Optimally, they could put several cigarettes worth of tobacco in it.
The idea being that they could prove that there was no second hand smoke, *or* cigarette butts. Then challenge the anti smoking laws on scientific grounds.
Johnny Carson was a smoker. Another premature tobacco related mortality. What was he like 80?
Latest news from Ohio:
Court: Private clubs not exempt from smoking ban
Jump to full article: AP, 2008-01-03
Intro:
State health officials erred when they tried to exempt veterans halls and other private clubs from Ohio’s smoking ban, an appeals court ruled.
“The law, which took effect last year following a statewide vote, prohibits smoking in most public places, including restaurants, bars and offices.
The Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals on Monday upheld an earlier court ruling that said the state Health Department didn’t have authority to write rules exempting private clubs. Such a change would need to be adopted by the state Legislature, the ruling said.
The decision was another victory for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, a trade group representing Ohio’s bar owners. The group filed a lawsuit last summer, saying the exemption for private clubs was unfair.”
Google Aria nicotine inhaler.
Why do you think Philip Morris isn’t fighting the bans.
Khrushchev had said, we didn’t have to worry about them attacking us because they wouldn’t have to. He said that we would eventually law ourselves into communism.
Makes me wonder if he was right.
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