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City aims to cut smokers’ havens
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Enjoy it while you can: Patrick Bechard, who is visiting San Francisco from France, smokes a cigarette after his lunch in front of a cafe on Columbus Avenue on Tuesday.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Smokers in San Francisco said a cigarette sales ban at drugstores would raise the already high price for a pack of cigarettes, while business owners said a proposal to increase the number of nonsmoking public places is going too far.
“Pretty soon, its going to be you can’t smoke in your own house,” said San Francisco resident and smoker Mark Hanoum. “[It’s] getting kind of ridiculous. I sit out front here and have a cigarette and a cup of coffee, and I am not bothering anyone’s rights.”
Two separate proposals intended to reduce cigarette use will go before a Board of Supervisors committee Thursday.
The proposals come amid increasingly stricter laws placed on smoking by Bay Area cities, from banning smoking in downtown areas to requiring landlords to put no-smoking clauses into new or renewed leases at most apartments.
Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed prohibiting pharmacies or drugstores from selling cigarettes. Some smokers said that stores still allowed to sell cigarettes would raise the price as a result.
A bill proposed by Supervisor Chris Daly would increase the number of public places off-limits to smoking, adding to the current ban at most bars, restaurants, parks and transit stops.
Daly wants to ban smoking in lines for services such as the purchase of event tickets or automatic teller machines. He also wants to ban smoking at outdoor eating areas as well as 20 feet from entrances, exits and operable windows of private buildings.
Some restaurant owners are worried that Daly’s proposal will hurt business. The proposal requires workers to “request” that any person violating the law stop smoking.
Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, said that could jeopardize the safety of workers.
Another provision would allow anyone to act as a “private enforcer” by bringing civil action against a business. Westlye said this provision could lead to extortion-like legal action.
Newsom’s spokesman Nathan Ballard said the mayor’s bill would not affect supermarkets or big-box retailers. He said that selling cigarettes at a pharmacy is a contradiction.
“It is illogical to be selling tobacco products next to tobacco-cessation products or in the same location as a pharmacy dispensing medicine for smoking-related illnesses,” he said.
The two proposed laws are up for a vote at the Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee meeting Thursday.
Nonsmoking-area expansion
San Francisco is considering expanding its ban on smoking in public places to the following areas.
» Outdoor dining areas of restaurants, cafes, coffee shops
» Where customers wait to do business: ATMs, ticket lines, movie theater lines, athletic event lines, concert lines, cab stands
» Within 20 feet of private, nonresidential building entrances, exits and operable windows
» In tobacco shops
» In 75 percent of hotel and motel guest rooms
» At farmers markets
» In enclosed common areas of multi-unit residences including common halls, elevators, parking areas, lobbies, waiting areas, bathrooms, cooking, dining, lounge, laundry facilities and recreation areas.
The measure would declare secondhand smoke a public health nuisance.
Drug store sales
Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing an outright ban on tobacco sales at drugstores and pharmacies.
61%: San Francisco drugstores that sold tobacco products in 2003
89%: San Francisco drugstores that sold tobacco products in 1976
Source: Draft legislation titled “Prohibiting Smoking in Enclosed Areas, Certain Unenclosed Areas and Sports Stadiums” and “Prohibiting Pharmacies from selling tobacco products”
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:27 AM MST on Fri., Jul. 18, 2008 re: "Proposal to widen nonsmoking spaces may affect dense areas"
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Examiner Reader said:
Daly told The Examiner that the Chamber of Commerce is “just blowing smoke.” “That’s hyperbole. With the width of the sidewalk there are plenty of spots that people can smoke outside downtown legally if this ordinance passes,” he said. Ok so how about really concentrating on neighborhood areas and residential areas. Mr. Daly in your own District 6 there is housing right next to clubs where people go outside to smoke, yet you have proposed not a thing about this real problem because its not kewl to stop the clubbers from smoking. Lets apply your concept in this important area too!
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malia miracle said:
While you are at it can you address the issue of all the cigarette butt litter? Not only are we have to be subjected to sucking bad air, but those butts stink. People need to smoke responsibly and be considerate of others,( not to mention the planet). Perhaps we can ban this too Mr.Daly ?
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Examiner Reader said:
What about FARTING ?
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Another Dim-Bulb Idea from The Supes said:
What planet do the Supes inhabit? Banning drugstores from selling cigarettes is yet another stupid idea on par with their ban of grocery store chains handing out plastic bags. Now Safeway, Lucky et. hand out only paper bags, which means that many more trees are being felled. Way to go! It galls me that these idiots earn almost $100,000 per year in taxpayer money and waste their time thinking up new ways to intrude into peoples' lives. Hey Supes, I've got a bright idea - why not commit yourselves to addressing homelessness, the skyrocketing cost of living and the escalation of violent crime in the city? Believe it or not, you're supposed to work for US.
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Examiner Reader said:
In the article Sharon Gross admits students violate policies. Drug and alcohol, now smoking. If you have policies in place why let students slid when caught. No mention about expulsion rates if students repeatedly get caught. This article glosses over the fact that students violate policies everyday. Weather caught or not caught. No mention of percentage of students under the legal age to buy tobacco. No mention of ages the students are who are caught. I only have more questions to ask.
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