By Robert Berger Santa Monica
Thank you for your excellent coverage of the public smoking issue (“The Promenade’s final drag?,” SMDP, May 10, page 1). I feel the need to enlighten Vikki Ridley, a smoker from London now working on the promenade. Ms. Ridley is quoted as saying that “in England, you can still smoke freely,” suggesting that Santa Monica is out of touch with the rest of the world in taking steps to protect nonsmokers from toxic secondhand smoke.
It appears as if Ms. Ridley has not been back to England lately. In February of this year, the British Parliament approved a ban of smoking in pubs, bars, restaurants and workplaces. Polls showed over 70 percent of people in Britain, where tobacco accounts for 114,000 deaths a year, supported that ban. England followed Ireland, which approved a similar ban in 2004, as did Scotland in 2005. Additionally, England has a major beach that went smoke-free (Bournemouth) long before any California city even considered such a ban.
The point is that this is a healthy global trend, with countries on every continent following the lead of Santa Monica and other cities across California. Tourism was up 3.2 percent in Ireland the year that their ban was implemented, and tourists will not turn away from visiting Santa Monica because of a smoking ban in crowded outdoor spaces. It will only make our city a more beautiful and healthy place to visit.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 15, 2006. Read the original PDF.