Council to Mull Tobacco Permits

Source from:  By Jason Wells glendalenewspress.com CITY HALL 09/11/2007

Topic of citywide smoking ban may also be addressed during discussion of the related issue. Anti-smoking advocates are expected to make their first major push for a citywide restriction on lighting up when the City Council on Tuesday introduces a tobacco licensing ordinance. The move comes after several council members have expressed interest in entertaining the idea, and after Councilman Dave Weaver last week requested a report surveying anti-smoking ordinances in other cities. "Those who are pushing for a healthier community feel this is the right opportunity," said Guadulesa Rivera, a community health advocate for Glendale Adventist Medical Center who helped coordinate input into the tobacco licensing ordinance. Any push for a citywide restriction - similar to the one Burbank enacted in May that bans smoking in outdoor dining areas, parts of downtown, parks, transit stations and other outdoor areas - would be separate from the ordinance that will be introduced on Tuesday. The ordinance before the council Tuesday would require the city's 242 tobacco retailers to obtain a $225 sales permit on an annual basis, which could be suspended up to two times if they are caught selling to minors. After two suspensions, the permit could be revoked, according to the proposed ordinance. advertisement Health advocates pushed for the ordinance after a 2006 survey found that 24% of Glendale tobacco retailers were willing to sell tobacco products to minors. Representatives for Glendale Adventist Medical Center and the Glendale Healthy Youth Advocacy Coalition, which conducted the survey, determined an extra layer of accountability on top of state regulations would be a relatively quick and effective way to bring those numbers down, according to a staff report. Burbank, Pasadena and Los Angeles have all adopted similar ordinances. "We're talking about sales to children who have no business being involved with cigarettes," Mayor Ara Najarian said. "It's hard to be opposed to that." The ordinance would also, for the first time, give the City Attorney's Office the authority to prosecute violators of the ordinance, rather than through the county district attorney's office. The police department would continue to use decoy buyers as part of a random check program, with the city's Neighborhood Services Department handling violations. If a retailer continues to violate the ordinance, the case would then be referred to the city attorney, according to a city staff report. But regardless of the program's targeted nature, anti-smoking advocates say the time is ripe for a discussion on the citywide health effects of second-hand smoke in public places, such as parks, sidewalks and outdoor shopping areas. Amiee Klem, who started the No Butts Glendale anti-smoking campaign a few months ago and intends to bring the issue up at Tuesday's council meeting, said now is the time to address the issue as other cities codify the rights of their citizens to breathe clean air in public gathering places. "I decided we better get on it quickly, otherwise we're going to be stuck in the middle with all the smokers," she said. Despite the fears of some that a ban would restrict civil liberties, the health issue and the environmental impact of cigarette butts accumulating in street gutters and eventually entering storm drains is problem the city should take up, Weaver said. "We're mandated to take care of that," he said. The survey of how other cities have addressed the issues isn't scheduled to come back before the council for at least several weeks, according to council's agenda forecast reports. Still, those in favor of a citywide ban look forward to bringing the topic into public discourse. "They feel there's enough people engaged and they want to at least have a dialogue," Rivera said. Enditem