Calabasas no-smoking law goes into effect

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers SIGN OF THE TIMES-New placards inform citizens where they can-and can't-light up now that Calabasas has a tough secondhand smoke ordinance. Health experts, tobacco control advocates and local politicians assembled in Calabasas last week to announce the launch of the city's new secondhand smoke ordinance, reportedly the first of its kind in the United States.

The law, which went into effect March 17, bans smoking in all outdoor public places except designated smoking areas that are at least 20 feet from building entrances, walkways and other locations where nonsmokers might be.

Smokers who light up can be fined $500.

"The law does prevent public exposure to the dangers of secondhand smoke by requiring that smokers smoke in a convenient designated smoking area away from nonsmokers and children," said former Calabasas Mayor Barry Groveman, who pushed hard for the ordinance despite critics' claim that it interfered with individual rights.

Last year, 19-year-old Calabasas resident Margo Arnold urged the city council to make The Commons shopping center a smoke-free area.

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers IT'S OFFICIAL-Capt. Tom Martin of the Lost Hills Sheriff's Department, right, and Calabasas City Councilmember Barry Groveman formally present the Calabasas Secondhand Smoke Ordinance during a news conference at Juan Batista de Anza Park in Calabasas. The ordinance and a list of frequently asked questions can be seen on the city's website, www.cityofcalabasas.com. "The ordinance was written up in January and it was presented at numerous city council meetings with readings," Arnold said. "There was one person in opposition, the rest of us were for it."

Groveman, who helped author Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, said the risks from secondhand smoke are becoming better known and taken more seriously.

"There are over 800 independent studies that establish that secondhand smoke is one of the leading causes of preventable disease in America," Groveman said. "Just two weeks ago, after we passed this law, the state of California Air Resources Board took the unprecedented step-first state in the country-to list secondhand smoke as a, quote: 'dangerous air contaminant.'"

The ongoing campaign against secondhand smoke won't be easy, according to Dave Rodriguez of the American Lung Association.

"Those of us who work on the lines in preventing deaths from tobacco, many times we're outnumbered by millions and millions of dollars (that tobacco companies spend)," Rodriguez said. "We deeply appreciate all that Calabasas has done. They've really set the standard . . . and we're hoping that this is going to grow nationwide."

Ester Schiller, executive director of S.A.F.E, (Smoke-free Air For Everyone), praised Calabasas not just for the ordinance, but also for the plan to work with businesses to create smoking outposts throughout the community where smokers can pursue their habit without harming others.

"There's a misunderstanding that secondhand smoke dissipates in the air," Schiller said. "It doesn't. It rises for a bit, and then it falls back to Earth as it cools and then it's caught on prevailing breezes. You can walk in a park and suddenly find yourself breathing tobacco smoke, and there's not a smoker around. It's just that the smoke has lingered in the air."

Others think the new law is hypocritical.

"As we watched the news of your city's new smoking ban and witnessed your mayor and others touting the ban and relating many illnesses to secondhand tobacco smoke, we couldn't help but laughably notice how all of these people were either standing in, or surrounded by, freshly sprayed, chemically-laden lawns," wrote Steve Daniels in an e-mail from Ohio.

Groveman said he hopes the community will cooperate with the new law. "We do not anticipate any enforcement issues," he said. "If any arise, the law provides sufficient remedies and penalties to achieve compliance."

Business owners will be responsible for ensuring that all employees and patrons comply with the new law. Individual citizens can report offenders to the city and officials will determine how to handle the fines on a case-by-case basis, Calabasas City Manager Tony Coroalles said.

Those who don't comply with the law will be guilty of a misdemeanor, said Lost Hills Sheriff's Captain Tom Martin.

"We will proceed with (enforcement) if necessary-and I emphasize, only if necessary-in the way we would any other misdemeanor."