On September 23, 2004, sick and tired of being assaulted by the toxic chemical fumes emitted by addicted and inconsiderate cigarette smokers whenever he visited the City of Santa Monica's world-renowned
Third Street Promenade (at the time not yet immortalized forever as the scene of a ludicrous car-jacking involving recent
Vanity Fair coverperson Sandra Bullock in the vastly-overrated but Academy Award®/Oscar® winning film
Crash), this reporter asked the
Board of Directors of the Bayside Corporation, the organization that administers the Third Street Promenade in cooperation with the City of Santa Monica, near the start of their regular meeting to prohibit the consumption of tobacco products, which contribute to the death of around 400,000 people in the U.S. each year, within this outdoor shopping and congregating area.
Another member of the public characterized this proposal as
"Looney Tunes®" and the Board of Directors of the Bayside Corporation took no action.
On Tuesday, July 25, 2006, the Santa Monica City Council will consider a proposal, Agenda Item 8-A, prepared by Adam Radinsky, Head, City of Santa Monica Consumer Protection Unit, and Paula Rockenstein, City of Santa Monica Consumer Affairs Specialist, and approved by Marsha Jones Moutrie, Santa Monica City Attorney, which begins by saying:
"Staff recommends that Council direct the City Attorney’s Office to prepare an ordinance providing the public greater protection from second-hand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke (“ETS”) in the following locations: outdoor dining areas; outdoor service areas; areas within 20 feet of entrances or windows to buildings open to the public;
the Third Street Promenade [bolding added]; and the Farmers Markets."
You can read this report, which bases its recommendations, in part, on the recent unanimous vote by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to declare secondhand tobacco smoke as a "toxic air contaminant," by clicking
here.
This same CARB report also figures prominently in the pending lawsuit
Birke v. Oakwood Garden Apartments, which seeks to enforce the rights of a five-year-old Woodland Hills girl to the enjoyment of smokefree air in the apartment complex where she lives.
The Santa Monica City Council meeting where the proposal made by this reporter nearly two years ago to an unreceptive Bayside Corporation Board of Directors will presented, with the prior approval of city officials, to the Council with a recommendation that staff be asked to draft an ordinance implementing it, will take place on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, starting at 6:30 pm, in Room 209 of Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main Street, in Santa Monica.
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