This page and its contents are copyright © 2006 by Etopia Media News Networks. All rights in all media reserved.
Santa Monica City Hall at dusk, July 25, 2006
Santa Monica City Council—(seated, l-r): Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Shriver, Mayor Robert Holbrook, Ken Genser (Standing): Kevin McKeown, Herb Katz, Pam O'Connor, Richard Bloom
health-conscious citizens voice support for Agenda Item 7-B, "an Ordinance Prohibiting Smoking in Specified Outdoor Locations"
People who've worked for years to bring a more extensive smokefree environment to the City of Santa Monica spoke confidently to reporters this evening as they waited for the Santa Monica City Council to finish its closed executive session at Santa Monica City Hall and call to order the City Council meeting where its members would consider
Agenda Item 7-B, "an Ordinance Prohibiting Smoking in Specified Outdoor Locations".
This was to be the "first reading" of an ordinance prepared by city staff at the direction of the council as a result of an earlier vote on July 25, 2006.
The ordinance recommended by staff provides "that Council introduce for first reading the attached proposed ordinance which prohibits smoking in the following locations in the City: outdoor dining areas; outdoor service areas; areas within 20 feet of entrances, exits or open windows of buildings open to the public; the Third Street Promenade; and the Farmers Markets."
watch and listen to health advocates explaining the value to them of making the 3rd Street Promenade smoke free and providing smokefree outdoor dining
You can watch and listen to concerned Southern Californians explaining why they support making Santa Monica smokefree by clicking on the appropriate menu buttons in the
Smokefree Channel Brightcove Player from
Etopia News below.
While Santa Monica residents all said that the passage by the Santa Monica City Council tonight of an ordinance banning the smoking of tobacco in public places throughout the city would serve as a model for other communities, none of them mentioned the related tobacco-control legislation embodied in California's Proposition 86, a ballot initiative up for a statewide vote on November 7, 2006, which would impose a thirteen-cent-per-cigarette tax ($2.60 per carton) on the same carcinogenic, toxic, addictive, polluting and extremely profitable tobacco products sold by such pillars of the American business community as the Altria Group (aka Phillip Morris Companies, Inc.) and the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.
as Santa Monica goes, so goes France
Saying "I am convinced the French people are now ready,"
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin "said Sunday.that France will ban smoking in many public locations in February, and will extend the prohibition to restaurants, clubs and bars in early 2008," as a "'public health necessity' because 60,000 people in France die from smoking-related causes each year and another 5,000 from second-hand smoke."
Santa Monica City Council voted on July 25, 2006, to instruct staff to draft smokefree ordinance including ban on smoking on its world-famous Third Street Promenade
On July 25, 2006, after listening to public input that was overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal, the Santa Monica City Council voted, 5-1, to adopt
Agenda Item 8-A, which directs "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; and the Farmers Markets."
Voting in favor of this measure were Santa Monica City Council members Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Shriver, Mayor Robert Holbrook, Kevin McKeown, Herb Katz, and Richard Bloom. Voting against Agenda Item 8-A was Santa Monica City Council member Pam O'Connor.
watch video of Santa Monica City Council consideration and passage of Agenda Item 8-A
You can also watch
California Politics Today's exclusive video footage of the Santa Monica City Council's consideration and passage of Agenda Item 8-A at its July 25, 2006, meeting in the
Smokefree Channel Brightcove Player below.
One video features post-vote interviews with Santa Monica City Deputy City Adam Radinsky and S.A.F.E. (Smokefree Air for Everyone) Executive Director Esther Schiller, as well as a brief glimpse of post-vote revelers celebrating the Council decision to make Santa Monica smokefree.
Another video starts with a detailed presentation of the content of the city staff's report on making Santa Monica smokefree, Agenda Item 8-A, by Deputy City Attorney Radinsky, moves on to show public testimony on the proposal from several supporters of the proposal and one Santa Monica restauranteur who opposed it, or at least wanted it modified, the actual City Council vote approving the measure, 5-1, and the post-vote interviews with Mr. Radinsky and Ms. Schiller also included in the first video.
what was to happen next
In his post-vote interview on July 25, 2006, Deputy City Attorney Radinsky indicated that city staff would now prepare an ordinance embodying the principles set forth in Agenda Item 8-A and bring it back to the Council for its consideration "in the near future."
"In the near future" turned out to be today's expected vote in favor of the ordinance ordered up in late July.
Get into the swing of things with additional Etopia Media News Network articles and interviews and Google Alerts