dents and non-smokers from secondhand smoke. We make up the majority and our rights and our health should be protected. Anything the city can do to protect us from the risks and hazards of secondhand smoke should be applauded and supported.” ✆ “We think the city has already gone too far and should worry more about the gang violence and vagrants in the city.” ✆ “Secondhand smoke outdoors is a joke. It’s astonishing how this cough, cough, dribble, dribble has even become a topic since anyone with a brain would realize that driving a SUV for one minute creates more toxic fumes than all the smokers in LA make in a week.” ✆ “My hope is to make Santa Monica smoke free in as many public places as possible. I’m a mom of a boy who is 11 years old and I do know that smoking and being around smoke is accumulative in that it can damage your lungs and over the years the damage just increases. At this point I know that he doesn’t like to be anywhere where someone is smoking and especially if we are outside trying to enjoy a meal and there is someone who is smoking. We are forced to then move because he hates it so much and I as well. But it does affect him a lot. I think that Santa Monica should make as many outdoor restaurants and outdoor places and ATMs be made as smoke free as possible.” ✆ “Well, one of the things Santa Monica did to protect citizens against secondhand smoke was to pass a law saying that there is no smoking at bus stops. However, at every bus stop I’m ever at people are smoking and blowing smoke in your face and there’s little kids inhaling secondhand smoke. So, no they don’t go far enough because they pass a law saying they’re going to protect citizens against secondhand smoke and then do nothing to enforce it. And probably none of the people smoking at the bus stop realize it’s against the law because there is no sign posted saying that. That’s another one of Santa Monica’s laws they have no intention of enforcing.” ✆ “The idea that the government needs to protect people from secondhand smoke going up into the air on a remote part of a park or beach is just preposterous. I think that the government should get off the back of its citizens and get a life and find something to do other than over regulating its citizens.” ✆ “The City Council should stop trying to regulate or legislate good manners when there’s really not that much of a problem and start taking care of some serious issues like the homeless problems. So City Council, stop it.” ✆ “There is so many airborne pollutants in LA that it’s beyond ridiculous, even sinister, to include outside secondhand smoke. Evidently, a well-funded scientific group will support any position. City leaders are like prostitutes ready to jump on the latest bandwagon. Now, the cultural lynching of smoking Johns. Have you ever noticed that things which are of supposed good require more laws brought on by this cultural hysteria if children, seniors, or the infirm are thought to be harmed. Politicians love to acquire power over the ignorant by fermenting hatred towards this weak group, the smokers. I guess Rob Reiner and the City Council are the only ones who have used the new $70 million library and actually read 1984. What’s next, gun control, speech control, worship control, God control?” ✆ “Santa Monica has not gone far enough to protect its citizens from secondhand smoke. I believe that smoking should only be allowed in your apartment if your apartment building allows it and not outside anywhere.” ✆ “I feel that not enough is being done as far as banning smoking. I would like to see a lot more areas take advantage of what’s being offered and a lot more restaurants to get involved.” ✆ “I do not feel like Santa Monica has done enough with the secondhand smoke. It has already gone too far as everything in Santa Monica goes too far. I just wonder what those people who are in charge down there, what the hell they are doing. But I wish they would get with it.” ✆ “The city of Santa Monica has not gone far enough to protect its citizens from secondhand smoke which kills many, many people annually who have never smoked. In addition to eliminating smoking in parks and on the beaches, it should also be restricted wherever individuals congregate including lines, waiting to buy tickets, and/or gaining entrance to movies, theaters, sporting events, etc. This no smoking ban in restaurants should also include adjacent patio and outdoor dining facilities where a slight breeze can permeate the entire area. Also, the entire Third Street Promenade should be made smoke free so that all Santa Monica residents can enjoy the entertainment as well as shopping in and around the area.” ✆ “I don’t smoke but I’m not an antismoking fanatic either. Santa Monica has gone way too far. Do they really expect us to believe that someone could contract cancer by walking past a smoker in the park? National policy on this issue reveals government hypocrisy at its worst. Nothing is done to prohibit the sale of tobacco products because the tax revenues are too lucrative so the message is: Please buy these products but don’t use them because they could kill you. Not surprisingly, Santa Monica has carried this policy to extremes. Thank you city hall for prosecuting people even in the park who dare to use a product that is legally available over the counter in Santa Monica stores.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 25, 2006. Read the original PDF.