Butting in

If you’re a smoker, you probably remember the rush of joy and relaxation delivered by that first hit of nicotine. Everyone smoked back in the 1960s and ’70s, or so it seemed, and you were just fitting in.

But over the years, popular perceptions of smoking have changed dramatically, primarily because cigarettes have been exposed as one of the single greatest killers in world history.

Over the past half-century, cigarettes have gone from being advertised as “recommended by four out of five doctors” to being completely banned from TV commercials and most public indoor places.

There are many stories about people quitting, with some turning to alternatives like nicotine-laced patches and chewing gum to kick the habit and sidestep not only a host of deadly diseases, but also a wide array of unpleasant side effects — from discolored teeth and fingers to bad breath.

Today, smokers are facing even more challenges: non-smokers around the country are raising such a stink over the potentially devastating effects of secondhand smoke that some cities — including Pasadena and Burbank — have moved to ban smoking not only inside public places, but outdoors as well.

Other cities to implement similar outdoor smoking bans include Calabasas and Santa Monica. And now Glendale is about to follow suit, igniting a battle that’s bound to be intense.

Glendale’s proposed ordinance would slap violators with citations ranging from $100 to $500 for anyone who fails to put out their butts after a warning. If approved, the new law would also require by January 2010 that 85 percent of all units in an apartment building be designated as non-smoking, with the remaining apartments for smokers “clustered” to one side of the building.

Is this a case of Big Brother government overstepping its bounds in trying to protect us from ourselves? Or is this a situation, much like global warming, in which government has an obligation to get involved and save lives?

“I don’t care if it’s popular. It’s the right thing to do. But there will be a lot of opposition from one segment of the population that loves to smoke,” said Glendale City Councilman Dave Weaver.

Weaver was referring to the city’s substantial and politically influential Armenian community, where smoking tobacco — both in cigarette form and from hookahs — is a widely enjoyed after-dinner cultural tradition.

“One segment of the population shouldn’t be able to control the lives and health of everyone. But this will be turned into an election issue. If you want to keep a horrible habit going, vote for the three guys up for re-election this year [Councilmen Ara Najarian, Frank Quintero and Bob Yousefian]. And if you think I’m wrong, then vote me out next time. But I’m not letting this go,” said Weaver, who is placing particular focus on the air at restaurant patios.

While smokers may argue they’ve already been forced out of restaurants and bars, Weaver says their habit is polluting the air for both al fresco diners and passersby. At the same time, people on the street shouldn’t have the right to expose diners and others to their smoke.

“With all the evidence out there about secondhand smoke, how can anyone tolerate those effects being spread at a restaurant?” Weaver asked.

Like many people whose lives have been hurt or destroyed by cigarettes, Weaver has personal reasons for wanting to curtail smoking in Glendale.

“My father was given six months to live right after I was born. He had heart disease and stopped smoking immediately because he wanted to live for me,” Weaver said. “He lived another 18 years after that, and I believe it was because he stopped. You don’t forget something like that.”

Esther Schiller has her own impassioned reasons to fight cigarettes. As a former public schools employee in Ventura, she recalled times when colleagues were allowed to smoke anywhere they pleased. Even though she never smoked, Schiller eventually became ill, took early retirement and won a workers’ compensation case because of smoke from others.

“The California Air Resources Board in January 2006 identified tobacco smoke as a toxic air contaminant with no safe level of exposure outside. What they said is that it was as dangerous as the worst industrial air pollutants,” said Schiller, who is now spokeswoman for the citizen group Smoke Free Air for Everyone. “This essentially provided the impetus for much more progress.”

That progress has come in the form of some pretty strict laws. Pasadena’s City Council, for instance, has directed the City Attorney’s Office to amend the city’s municipal code to prohibit smoking in outdoor malls, dining areas, waiting lines for movie tickets, ATMs and bus stops. Smoking in parks is already against the law in that city, and now smokers will soon also be prohibited from lighting up within 20 feet of a building’s main entrance.

In Burbank, smokers already cannot light up within 20 feet of anyplace in which a nonsmoker might walk by. Nor can they smoke in city parks, municipal facilities or any pedestrian areas of outdoor shopping areas.

Sound harsh? Actor Shia LeBeouf, star of “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull,” said so during a recent network talk show appearance. LeBeouf may have saved the planet from rampaging monster trucks in “Transformers” and swung through the trees like Tarzan while playing Indy’s son, but even he couldn’t escape the long arms of Burbank’s law enforcement officials when he lit up a cigarette while walking through Burbank’s popular Media Center district.

“Shia was walking down the street smoking when we saw him. We’re always hitting up stars outside the studios here for speeding, or at their homes for more extreme behavior,” said Burbank police Sgt. Thor Merich. “We don’t have an opinion about the laws one way or another; we just enforce them. It’s not about us chasing quotas to make money, because the courts take most of the fine money.” 

And no, Merich doesn’t feel that chasing smokers is a waste of department resources. In fact, he had some words that may sound ominous for smokers in Glendale.

“The biggest impact is probably on some businesses that are smoking-heavy,” said Merich. “We shut down the hookah bars here, and they’ll likely have to shut them down there in Glendale too.”

That is where the battle is likely to get ugliest in Glendale. The city’s 80,000-strong Armenian community — which makes up some 40 percent of the city’s total population — wields enormous political clout. Two of the city’s five City Council members — Najarian and Yousefian — are of Armenian descent, and the population bloc has dramatically altered the business and visual landscape of the city.

One of the ways the Armenian culture stands out in Glendale lies in the presence of hookah bars and outdoor patios that are packed with smokers. The habit of smoking a hookah pipe with a meal is deeply entrenched in Middle Eastern culture, not least in Armenia. That tradition continued in Glendale as immigrants formed the largest concentration of Armenians of any city in America.

“It’s bad for the restaurant business. We might lose some customers. I hear from people in Burbank that restaurants are losing customers for just that [anti-smoking regulations],” said Susan Mavian, co-owner of Bacara Restaurant on Brand Boulevard, where on Sunday afternoon three of five outdoor tables provided ashtrays.

“After a meal some people like to smoke. I want people to be free to smoke. People are complaining around town that it’s very slow business. The City Council should try to make it busy, not have people complaining,” Mavian said.

Judging by Weaver’s comments, the council’s debate may not be pretty to watch. But Najarian feels that things can get done in a civilized manner, and that in the end Glendale’s law will have to be less draconian and more practical.

“Speaking for myself, it’s definitely something I don’t want politicized. It’s a health and human behavior issue. The wrong way to develop public policy is by worrying about what issues are going to scare people to vote for or against you,” said Najarian. “If you’re talking about human rights, we have to take into consideration addiction to substances. We have to take account of how enforceable it is. If someone is caught smoking illegally in their apartment, are we going to call 911? It’s going through the process. If you can’t enforce the law, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.” 

PW Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki contributed to this report.