Smoking out dissent

After smoking was outlawed in restaurants and bars in the 1990s, owners of the popular Freddie’s 35er bar spent more than $75,000 to build an open-air patio fronting the business on Colorado Boulevard, just east of Fair Oaks Avenue, in the heart of Old Pasadena.

But that patio — along with other outdoor areas that have been set aside for smokers at area businesses — may now be a thing of the past.

On Monday night, the Pasadena City Council took another step toward banning smoking in all public places after council members voted to have the city attorney draft an ordinance that would prohibit people from smoking at ATMs, in outdoor malls, on dining patios, in service lines and within 20 feet from main public entrances and exits.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Deborah Blanco, a bartender at the 35er. “I don’t smoke, but I just can’t believe they are going to take away that right. What are they going to take away next?”

Similar prohibitions already exist in cities such as Santa Monica, Calabasas and Burbank.

The 35er and several other local businesses collected nearly 1,000 signatures in opposition to the city’s plan, but so far those efforts have proved fruitless.

Council members showed overwhelming support for the ordinance before any signatures were collected, but tabled the discussion for a month after complaints arose that some members of the business community were not properly notified of the council’s intentions.

The item was up for discussion at the council’s Public Safety Committee just two hours before the full council met Monday night. At the regular Council meeing later, 18 of 32 speakers were against the new law.

Before the council meeting, Councilman Steve Haderlein, a member of the Public Safety Committee, defended the city’s proposal, which was first proposed several months ago by resident Paul Ramirez, an avid bicyclist who opposed smoking at restaurants with al fresco dining.

“Despite all the huffing and puffing and the additional 30 days we gave them, no one has written a letter or called us about this,” said Haderlein.

So far, the Pasadena Playhouse District has endorsed the ordinance. The South Lake Business District and the Old Pasadena Management District have remained neutral. Nor has the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce taken a position.

Chamber President and CEO Paul Little, a former council member, said that some in the business community warmed up to the idea once some conditions were reconsidered and better explained.
“They said building entrances before and now it was changed to main entrances,” said Little, an ex-smoker. “Property owners were concerned. They felt like they had to have someplace where their people could smoke. I think explaining and clarifying things like that made it easier for folks to grasp.”

Violators of the ordinance would be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for subsequent infractions. The citation process would be complaint-driven.

“In public places where there are crowds, smoking would not be permitted and it is already not permitted in our park lands. People can still smoke in their homes and their cars,” Little said.
But those are about the only places they could legally light up. After the law goes into effect, a smoker could probably only legally light up in many parts of Pasadena if they were standing in the middle of the street or walking.

According to the Centers for Disease and Control, about 21.6 percent of Americans between 18 and 24 were smokers in 2003. The CDC is actively campaigning with other organizations to drive that number down to 12 percent by 2010.

But that may be easier said than done, primarily because smoking over the past several decades has become so ingrained in our culture.

In the early days of television, cigarette companies sponsored shows, among them “I Love Lucy,” which was sponsored by Lucky Strike. In fact, tobacco company executives expected to see their stars smoking their products during the shows, which Lucille Ball and her cast did often. Even Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble smoked Winstons in commercials for the “The Flintstones” cartoon show.

But soon after 1964, and the US Surgeon General’s conclusion that smoking is a highly dangerous activity, public opinion began to change. On Jan. 1, 1971, the last smoking ad aired during an episode of “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” Carson also smoked, often on the air. He later quit smoking, but died due to complications from emphysema.

By the mid-1970s, cigarette sales began to decline, and by 1980 public opinion about smoking was turning negative, according to the CDC. By then, secondhand smoke had started emerging as another major smoking-related health issue.

Placing it in the same category as diesel exhaust, arsenic and benzene, the state Air Resources Board in 2006 declared secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant, making California the only state to make such a declaration.

In addition, a report by the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment blamed secondhand smoke for 4,000 lung cancer- and heart disease-related deaths each year in California.
As of June, 46 cities around the state had policies prohibiting smoking in entryways, and 29 had policies in place banning smoking in public service lines, and at bus stops and taxi shelters.

“I cannot leave my windows open because the smoke comes in every day,” said Pasadena resident JoAnn Egitto, who lives close to several businesses with smoking areas.

“I am home right now after having major surgery and I should be able to enjoy fresh air in my home to recover, but I can’t,” Egitto told the council. “This has gone on for over two years, but they have refused to move their smoking section because there is no law. It’s just a matter of being a good neighbor.”

A poll conducted by the city in February found that three-quarters of the 900 residents surveyed said they supported a policy to prohibit smoking in all public places, and 82 percent said they would support a policy banning smoking in public service waiting lines. The city already bans smoking in parks.

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control gave the city a grade of C for its efforts to protect citizens from secondhand smoke in parks, recreational spaces, entryways and service lines.

“It’s going to hurt business,” Blanco said. “It’s scary. There are going to be a lot of stressed-out people who can’t wait to get out of Pasadena and light up.”

“The smoking ban ordinance will benefit everyone in the city,” Ramirez said. “I never intended to alienate businesses, residents or visitors, and hope we can all come together to foster a healthy environment.”