Smokers’ lights go out on city beaches

Jeff Benson

Make no butts about it. Smoking will no longer be permitted on

Newport’s beachfront.

Newport Beach became the third Orange County city to ban smoking

from its beaches Tuesday after a 5-2 City Council vote. Several other

Southern California cities, including San Clemente and Huntington

Beach, have passed laws prohibiting smoking on their beaches in

recent months.

Mayor Tod Ridgeway said the ban won’t likely be enforced unless a

police officer spots a smoker somewhere along Newport’s 6.2 miles of

sandy beach or on the pier. Instead, Ridgeway believes the city will

resort to self-policing of smoking on the beachfront so police, fire

and lifeguard crews can stick to crime and safety concerns.

“It’s about respect and courtesy, and I think that with

self-policing, it’ll be the same way on the beaches,” Ridgeway said.

It’s still legal to smoke in the parking lots and away from the

sand, as well as the unincorporated Crystal Cove State Beach, he

said. The ordinance must go through a second reading before it can be

passed into law and before “No Smoking” signs are posted.

Councilman Steve Bromberg, who hadn’t originally supported the ban

because he felt it would be too difficult to enforce, said Tuesday

that fellow Councilman Steve Rosansky had helped change his mind.

“I do believe people are basically law-abiding,” Rosansky said at

the meeting. “I don’t envision the Police Department handing out a

lot of tickets.”

Even smoker and Huntington Beach resident Brett Ridenour approved

of the decision.

“I am a smoker,” Ridenour said during the session. “I’m proud of

this and support this, and I think other smokers will too, because I

know what kind of litter it can create.”

The dissenting votes came from Councilmen Gary Adams and Dick

Nichols. Nichols said he questioned the hazards of inhaling

second-hand smoke and felt the new law was too extreme.

“I think we’re going overboard,” Nichols said. “If it were an

ordinance to ban the littering of butts, it would be different.”

The decision came four months after Councilman John Heffernan

asked staff members to review the issue, and three weeks after

Newport Beach’s Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission approved the

ban. The item was then passed on to the council for approval.

The decision appealed to nonsmokers visiting Newport Pier who

complained about the pollution and health risks.

“I think it’s great,” said Matt Sullivan of San Clemente. “You

have to sit in everyone’s smoke downwind. They say cigarette butts

are the biggest polluting factor in the world.”

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com. Deirdre Newman

contributed to this report.