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Ban is discussed
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| Smokers walk and gather on San Fernando Boulevard throughout the day and evening hours. A proposed smoking ban could limit this. |
Residents fill City Council chambers to present arguments for and against proposed smoking ban in city.
By Chris Wiebe
CITY HALL — Residents turned up en masse in City Council Chambers on Tuesday to weigh in on a proposal to ban smoking in certain areas in Burbank.
At press time, the council had not made a decision on the ordinance, but had just begun its deliberations after more than three hours of public testimony.
The proposed ordinance was crafted in response to documented concerns that second-hand smoke imposes negative impacts on non-smokers, said principal city planner Michael Forbes.
"Studies have found that concentration of second-hand smoke in some areas can be comparable to indoor concentrations in some cases," he said.
As proposed, the ordinance would prohibit smoking in several targeted areas in Burbank, including all city facilities and parks; all pedestrian areas of Downtown Burbank; the Chandler Bikeway; restaurant outdoor dining areas; and public transit stations.
The ordinance has a provision to set up designated smoking areas in places where limits are placed on smoking, with the exception of outdoor dining areas, where designated smoking areas would be specifically outlawed, he added.
Under staff's proposal, enforcement would be conducted by the Burbank Police Department, Forbes said. A violation would be a misdemeanor charge, though city attorneys could choose to prosecute the matter as an infraction on a case-by-case basis, he added.
Resident and former smoker Robert Phipps, who submitted a position paper to the council seven months ago urging a smoking ban, encouraged the council to pass the ordinance in order to promote public health. Contentions from smokers that the ban would limit personal freedoms are misinformed, he said.
"The smokers say we are trying to take away their rights," he said. "Not true — they have voluntarily relinquished them when they chose to live in a society."
But some ordinance opponents maintained that limiting personal behavior infringed upon basic rights.
Resident Shelly Herman argued that while he personally did not care for smoking, he was weary of attempts to abrogate people's freedoms, even for the best of reasons.
"We as the city of Burbank should not use the strength of public government to micromanage the behavior of others," he said.
Another opponent, Bechara Joe Georges, who owns a hookah lounge in Downtown Burbank, said the smoking would completely destroy the business he relies on for his financial livelihood. The lounge, which opened four years ago, serves food and provides customers with a place to smoke hookah, a water-cooled pipe that can use flavored tobacco.
"I will be forced to shut down my business as a result of a ban on smoking," he said.
Georges asked that his business be designated as a smoking area in the city.
Though the ordinance would prohibit café patrons from smoking on outdoor patios, smokers would still be able to smoke on the inside of the business, Forbes said. The state ordinance that bans smoking inside businesses carries a provision allowing indoor smoking if the nature of a business is primarily geared for smoking, he added.
Other speakers took issue with an exception in the proposed ordinance that would exempt De Bell Golf Course from the ban. Since the course is on public land, it should be subject to the same rules as city parks, said Burbank resident Rose Prouser.
But city staffers recommended the exception at De Bell because the course functions differently than a public park, Forbes said.
"Because of the nature of golf and how it's played, there is a considerable amount of spacing between groups," he said.
Local governments in Southern California have already put limits on outdoor smoking in some public places and a representative from the city of Calabasas, which imposed outdoor smoking regulations in March 2006, was on hand to encourage the council to pursue a similar policy.
"We faced a lot of difficult decisions last year when we embarked on this," said Calabasas City Councilman Barry Groveman, who spoke at the meeting on Tuesday. "And I'm happy to say that most of the concerns have disappeared in the sense that we have had no complaints and issued just two citations. It is basically self policing."
At press time, the council had not made a decision on the ordinance, but had just begun its deliberations after more than three hours of public testimony.
The proposed ordinance was crafted in response to documented concerns that second-hand smoke imposes negative impacts on non-smokers, said principal city planner Michael Forbes.
"Studies have found that concentration of second-hand smoke in some areas can be comparable to indoor concentrations in some cases," he said.
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The ordinance has a provision to set up designated smoking areas in places where limits are placed on smoking, with the exception of outdoor dining areas, where designated smoking areas would be specifically outlawed, he added.
Under staff's proposal, enforcement would be conducted by the Burbank Police Department, Forbes said. A violation would be a misdemeanor charge, though city attorneys could choose to prosecute the matter as an infraction on a case-by-case basis, he added.
Resident and former smoker Robert Phipps, who submitted a position paper to the council seven months ago urging a smoking ban, encouraged the council to pass the ordinance in order to promote public health. Contentions from smokers that the ban would limit personal freedoms are misinformed, he said.
"The smokers say we are trying to take away their rights," he said. "Not true — they have voluntarily relinquished them when they chose to live in a society."
But some ordinance opponents maintained that limiting personal behavior infringed upon basic rights.
Resident Shelly Herman argued that while he personally did not care for smoking, he was weary of attempts to abrogate people's freedoms, even for the best of reasons.
"We as the city of Burbank should not use the strength of public government to micromanage the behavior of others," he said.
Another opponent, Bechara Joe Georges, who owns a hookah lounge in Downtown Burbank, said the smoking would completely destroy the business he relies on for his financial livelihood. The lounge, which opened four years ago, serves food and provides customers with a place to smoke hookah, a water-cooled pipe that can use flavored tobacco.
"I will be forced to shut down my business as a result of a ban on smoking," he said.
Georges asked that his business be designated as a smoking area in the city.
Though the ordinance would prohibit café patrons from smoking on outdoor patios, smokers would still be able to smoke on the inside of the business, Forbes said. The state ordinance that bans smoking inside businesses carries a provision allowing indoor smoking if the nature of a business is primarily geared for smoking, he added.
Other speakers took issue with an exception in the proposed ordinance that would exempt De Bell Golf Course from the ban. Since the course is on public land, it should be subject to the same rules as city parks, said Burbank resident Rose Prouser.
But city staffers recommended the exception at De Bell because the course functions differently than a public park, Forbes said.
"Because of the nature of golf and how it's played, there is a considerable amount of spacing between groups," he said.
Local governments in Southern California have already put limits on outdoor smoking in some public places and a representative from the city of Calabasas, which imposed outdoor smoking regulations in March 2006, was on hand to encourage the council to pursue a similar policy.
"We faced a lot of difficult decisions last year when we embarked on this," said Calabasas City Councilman Barry Groveman, who spoke at the meeting on Tuesday. "And I'm happy to say that most of the concerns have disappeared in the sense that we have had no complaints and issued just two citations. It is basically self policing."
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