Posted on 06/14/2003 5:23:43 AM PDT by BenLurkin
About a half dozen people lobbied the City Council on Wednesday to establish "smoke-free" zones in city parks to protect children from the influence of tobacco.
The speakers asked the council to create a licensing requirement for businesses that sell tobacco products and to strengthen city regulations on the sale of alcohol.
Diana Brown, chairwoman of the Antelope Valley Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Policy Coalition and leader of the Pueblo Y Salud, asked the council to adopt a tobacco-related ordinance similar to one in effect in San Fernando.
That ordinance exempts businesses for two years from paying fees to obtain a license to sell tobacco products.
A similar license requirement in Palmdale would increase the city's ability to crack down on businesses that sell tobacco products to minors.
Brown also asked the council to consider designating public picnic areas, basketball courts, baseball diamonds and other facilities as nonsmoking zones.
State law already allows the city to ban smoking within 25 feet of public "tot-lot" play areas, and Brown encouraged the city to post signs to that effect.
Alcohol-control activist Ray Chavira, a member of the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco, said he supported Brown's requests.
Others speaking in support were Xaviar Flores, executive director of Pueblo Y Salud; Deborah Rutkowski-Hines, vice president of the Rancho Vista Homeowners Association; and high school teacher Susan Strom.
"The biggest problem we have is smoking on campus" by teenagers who are not supposed to be able to purchase tobacco products, Strom said.
"I think if we give this consideration, it would alleviate a lot and it also would probably take care of a lot of the drug dealing that goes on in parks," she said.
Flores said tobacco and alcohol are the biggest health problems Valley residents face.
Between 60% and 80% of people polled support increased controls on both products, he said.
Flores asked the council to go beyond the tot-lot restriction empowered by state law.
"Include the baseball diamonds, include the basketball courts and the tennis courts - everywhere that kids congregate. That's all we're asking," Flores said.
Opposing the enacting of such ordinances was Palmdale resident Joseph Yore.
If the council bans smoking, it also must ban the smoking cars and trucks that traverse the city's roadways, the use of fireworks on the Fourth of July and holiday barbecues, Yore said.
Because the matter was not on the council's meeting agenda, it took no action and gave no direction concerning the requests.
A proposal that would strengthen the city's control on the sale of alcohol has been under discussion by the Planning Commission since October. That proposal has yet to be recommended for approval by the commission or sent to the council for adoption as a new ordinance.
Up to this point, the commission's meetings on the matter have been of an advisory nature, said Laurie Lile, Palmdale's director of planning.
In an effort to make sure the members of the commission have the best information available, city planners have been gathering data from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and local businesses, Lile said.
Staff has been analyzing that data for presentation to the commission as well as pondering the proposals and questions raised by its members, she said.
"We are still several months away from agendizing an ordinance for the Planning Commission's consideration," Lile said.
To date, there has been no direction given to planning staff to begin drafting an ordinance that would establish smoke-free zones in city parks, she said.
Sounds like they don't have many problems.
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