Smoking ban mulled

Andrew Edwards

Laguna Beach officials may soon ban smoking on public beaches.

The City Council voted 4-0 April 20 to direct city staffers to

draw up an ordinance prohibiting smoking on public beaches.

Council member Steve Dicterow did not vote on the issue because he

got sick and had to leave the April 20 meeting early.

It’s not known yet when City Council members will vote on the

proposed smoking ban.

Councilwomen Toni Iseman and Elizabeth Pearson have promoted the

smoking ban. Iseman said the smoking ban is a personal issue for her

since she finds so many cigarette butts buried in the sand at beach

cleanups.

“The beach was an ashtray,” she said.

Not only can cigarette butts be found on shore, but they also wash

into the ocean, the backbone of Laguna’s tourist industry.

“Smokers don’t seem to understand they’re polluting the ocean,”

Pearson said.

Putting an end to smoking on the beaches, rather than simply

relying on enforcing litter laws, is needed because discarded

cigarette butts specifically represent a major source of pollution

along the coast, she said.

“This makes it really clear what is polluting,” she said.

Efforts to ban smoking along public beaches have become popular in

Southern California. Officials in San Clemente, Santa Monica and

Solana Beach, a San Diego County city, have moved to ban smoking on

beaches.

The Laguna Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has not yet

taken an official position on the proposal, and the chapter’s

chairman, Rick Wilson, said he personally favored the idea, though

other members of the organization think the problem is not smoking,

but smokers who litter.

Wilson said he understood that argument, but he doesn’t trust that

all smokers would discard their cigarettes properly.

“If there’s an ashtray or trash can 10 feet away, they’re not

going to put it there,” Wilson said.

Smokers enjoying on the beach recently said the city should allow

them to light up, but not to throw cigarettes in the sand.

“Other than the litter it’s not a big deal,” said Web developer

Colin Simning of Laguna Hills, who works in Laguna Beach.

In general, nonsmokers who were asked about the idea were more

likely to agree with the proposed ban. .

“I think it’s a good thing,” Laguna Beach resident Joel Lars said,

adding, smoking could be tolerable in areas set aside for smokers.