Posted on 10/26/2003 3:27:11 PM PST by SheLion
SOLANA BEACH, Calif. (AP)--This laid-back, funky seaside town has businesses with names such as the Naked Cafe, Belly Up Tavern and Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash, and the dress code is more Grateful Dead than boardroom.
But it's laying down the law on its 1.4 miles of beaches: No Smoking.
``It's a great idea,'' said resident Douglas Alden, 38, as he and his 2-year-old son, Clinton, had the cove at Tide Park all to themselves on a recent afternoon. ``Even in a wide-open space like this, the smoke tends to travel.''
Ban opponent Travis Stevens, a 26-year-old construction worker, doesn't see it the same way.
``If you're not blowing it in anybody's face or anything, just minding your own business, I don't think it should be a problem,'' Stevens said.
But even Stevens is upset by the cigarette butts littering the beach, the stairs leading down from the parking lot, and the bluff overlooking the surf. During a recent cleanup, cigarette butts were the top item collected, according to Mayor Tom Golich.
Now, Solana Beach is about to becomes the first California city to ban smoking on the beach, according to the American Lung Association.
The ban in the northern San Diego County town of 13,000 people was prompted by a group of high school students, who first asked the city to declare September a nonsmoking month on the beaches and in parks, then pushed for a permanent ban.
It was unanimously supported by the five-member City Council. After it takes effect on Nov. 20, first-time offenders can face a $100 fine.
Similar bans are in place at Honolulu's Hanauma Bay beach, and at two public beaches in Sharon, Mass. Some beaches in New Jersey also have smoke-free zones.
Inspired by Solana Beach, Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss recently introduced a motion that would ban smoking on Los Angeles' 10 miles of beaches as well.
Weiss said he and his children participated in a beach cleanup two weeks ago.
``We spent our time on our hands and knees picking up other peoples' cigarette butts,'' he said. ``It's disgusting and inexcusable.''
Weiss' motion will be considered in the next several weeks, and he thinks it will pass.
``A decade ago when it was first proposed that smoking be banned in restaurants, they said it couldn't and shouldn't be done,'' he said. ``Look around today. You can't smoke in a restaurant and the world hasn't stopped spinning.''
But at Los Angeles' Venice Beach, David said Weiss' idea would ``be like a total violation of a person's civil rights, because we're outside, you know what I mean?''
``I don't think they'd want to enforce it, because there's too many people down here that do smoke,'' Watson said as he puffed at a table outside a cafe. ``Even the cops smoke down here.''
Associated Press Writer Mason Stockstill in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Well, you know the main problem is people. I would suspect that is what they most would like to ban. It is people who litter, bring dogs that litter, bring gold rings and money, and litter. People are the source of all these problems, and the politicians are just waiting till they get more power then, wham! it will be people.
I would solve the litter problem a different way, arrest the litterer. Keep it up till the beaches and parks are as clean as they want them. Until then, continue to let the Boy Scouts use the beach and participate on annual clean up drives.
I'd settle for a public id system, ala yellow stars, in exchange for exemptions being made to allow us to smoke in public.
It's too bad Osama didn't identify shs as one of the targets in Jihad. Bloomberg would've thrown him a ticker tape parade and the keys to the city.
Yea, right! LOL! Just like the bars/restaurants in the locales across this country who have gone out of business due to the smoke bans imposed by their local henchmen. Yea, once you anti's got your way and your smoke free environments, your forgot one little detail: you conveniently forgot to take up the slack of the smokers you banned from those establishments!You anti's certainly showed your support didn't you? LOL!
No smoking of marijuana?! I cannot believe it.
They wouldn't get away with this is IRAN!
Yep!
This is smokers' fault?
By the way, I've been smoking for decades now; I've always been disgusted by littering of any kind.
Any statistics on how many of the pop-top and beer-bottle-cap litterers are smokers?
Seems like a broad brush approach.
But instead, they fight litter by banning... smoking. This makes all the sense of fighting violent criminals by taking away your hunting rifle, or fighting couch potatos with a tax on Big Macs, or fighting vandalism by banning paint, or.. well, just about everything else these people legislate.
The problem is these people don't recognize a difference between good and evil, and figure all people are equal, so if someone does a bad deed the fault must lie in the item they did it with. This hasn't work yet, but it may eventually.
Uh oh, I'm showing critical and judgemental thinking. How unfair. It must have come from a decent two parent upbringing. We ought to ban those.
Bwahahahahahaha!
Oh sorry, that was very unladylike....
Yea, I know. Well, HE can kiss my white Conservative AZZ!
If you have two parents who smoke, they're in the process of being condemned.
The paperwork just hasn't been all pulled together yet.
Just a tad over the top, aren't you?
Egad.
I remember when adults understood what being in public meant.
Must be nice to be on a winning bandwagon for once, huh?
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