SMOKE OUT : Cities Try to Snuff Smokers

The recent decision of the Los Angeles City Council to ban smoking in restaurants, which goes into effect Monday, is part of a growing trend, particularly in California. Among the 56 cities and counties that have banned smoking in restaurants nationally, 49 of them are in California.

Recent reports of the hazards of secondhand smoke have fueled drives to clamp down on smoking in public. In the San Fernando Valley region, some cities have prohibited smoking in public places while others, like Santa Clarita, have no smoking restrictions at all.

According to the American Cancer Society, the best estimate of involuntary smoking-related mortality in the United States is 53,000 deaths per year. That’s 37,000 from heart disease, 3,700 from lung cancer and 12,000 from other cancers. Involuntary smoking is the third-leading cause of preventable death, behind only active smoking and alcohol.

An estimated 2.2 million California workers--nearly 30% of the work force--were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in 1990, according to a study published last August in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. It is also estimated that 10,530 smokers died in Los Angeles County from the effects of smoking in 1990. Of those, experts say, 4,160 came from Los Angeles and 1,611 from the San Fernando Valley.

Who Lights Up

Percentage who smoked in the county, city and Valley in 1990

LA County: 21.8

LA City: 21

SF Valley*: 22.5

* Estimates based on Valley population

Dueling Legislation

Competing smoking-ban bills are pending in the state Legislature. Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood) is pushing a bill to ban smoking in indoor workplaces, including restaurants, with the exception of bars and a few other places. A bill by Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood) seeks to repeal local anti-smoking measures, mostly by letting business owners decide whether to allow smoking in their establishments.

Death Rates

Number of deaths in 1990 due to secondhand smoke

LA County: 1,500

LA City: 593

SF Valley*: 230

* Estimates based on Valley population

Smoking Ban Roundup

The stauts of smoking bans in and around the Valley

AGOURA HILLS and CALABASAS: Currently, half of any restaurant with a more than 50-person capacity must be designated as nonsmoking in Agoura Hills. Lawmakers in that city are also coordinating efforts with their counterparts in Calabasas on a proposed ordinance, similar to the one in Los Angeles, to ban smoking in all restaurants, except in outdoor or barroom seating areas. Currently, Calabasas has no anti-smoking ordinances.

BURBANK: Smoking is prohibited at places of general assembly, such as theaters. The city also banned smoking in some City Hall offices, where tougher restrictions are under consideration by Burbank officials who are negotiating with city employees. In 1991 the council considered a broad-based smoking ban but it never came up for a vote. Burbank Airport Authority also banned smoking in all terminal areas except restaurants and lounges.

GLENDALE: City Council considered a ban on smoking at restaurants years ago. Opposition from businesses killed it.

LANCASTER: Smoking is prohibited in city buildings and all enclosed public places. Exceptions include bars, restaurants with eating for 49 or fewer patrons, and retail tobacco stores.

LOS ANGELES CITY: The Los Angeles City Council on June 23 banned smoking in restaurants, with the exception of outdoor eating areas and private clubs or bars. The council also hasprohibited smoking at hospitals, City Hall, police headquarters, elevators and other public places such as theaters.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved bans on smoking in more than 1,800 buildings that house county operations and public services and also in county hospitals and clinics. The supervisors, seeking to close a $299-million budget gap, are supporting a proposal to increase cigarette taxes 17 cents per pack statewide while preempting all local smoking bans. Wording of the legislation is still under negotiation in Sacramento.

PALMDALE: No smoking bans are on the books, although an anti-smoking ordinance was proposed in 1983, but not adopted. The city adopted a policy, not enforceable by law, prohibiting smoking in City Hall, council chambers and city offices.

SANTA CLARITA: No smoking bans exist. However, the management of the Valencia Town Center has prohibited smoking at city’s only regional mall.

SAN FERNANDO: No smoking bans exist, but Councilmen Doude Wysbeek and Ray Ojeda agreed Monday to form a subcommittee to develop a proposal to restrict smoking at businesses.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE: The city has no smoking bans. However, the City Council promised at a recent meeting to consider a restaurant smoking ban at the end of its recess in September, at the request of a group of citizens.

For and Against

“At first, it had to do with the aesthetic . . . that at restaurants, you shouldn’t have to spend your hard-earned money at a place with obnoxious smoke. Then the medical evidence kept mounting. . . . I truly believe that we will have a smoke-free society by the year 2000.”

Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, main proponent of the city’s ban, on why he championed the anti-smoking measure.

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“I think people should be able to do pretty much whatever they want without Big Brother telling them what to do. It’s like the helmet law. If people want to be able to ride with their hair blowing in the wind, they ought to be able to. . . . My customers probably wouldn’t come back. But where will they go? We’ll just have these wandering smokers in the night.”

John Dunn, co-owner of Insomnia Cafe in Encino, estimating that the city’s smoking ban would have a devastating effect on his restaurant.

Sources: Los Angeles Department of Health Services, American Cancer Society, city and county governments