Anaheim : Council to Hear Public Views on Smoking Law

The Anaheim City Council today will hear public comment on the city’s new ordinance regulating smoking in public places and private workplaces.

Last month, the council followed the lead of other county cities and gave preliminary approval to the smoking ordinance. But it withheld final approval to study how the ordinance would affect the Anaheim Convention Center and such private convention operations as the Anaheim Hilton and the Disneyland Hotel.

A report by the city manager concluded that the ordinance as it stands could hurt the city’s convention business and recommends that the council allow tenants some control over the restrictions applied to their shows and programs.

The ordinance regulates smoking in such public places as hospitals and health care facilities as well as auditoriums, movie theaters, restaurants, supermarkets and public restrooms.

The report recommended that smoking be specifically banned in movie theaters but that auditorium owners or lessees be allowed to determine their own smoking regulations. Other proposed amendments include restricting smoking in public restrooms of less than 200 square feet and exempting such non-public dining functions as convention banquets from the ordinance.

Several hotels and restaurants have written the mayor and City Council urging them not to support the ordinance as it stands.

Glenn Hale, general manager of the Anaheim Hilton, wrote that the regulation mandating that half the floor space in restaurants be set aside for nonsmokers is “unreasonable since the majority of our patrons are smokers.” The Hilton estimated that it would lose more than $1 million in food and beverage revenue and would have to fire 21 employees if the ordinance is passed.

Meanwhile, several nonsmokers wrote in support of the ordinance.

George MacLaren wrote that he feels nonsmokers will be treated as second-class citizens and given booths in the corners of restaurants if the ordinance is not passed. “I urge you to adopt a strong ordinance, not a watered-down version,” he wrote.

The public hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. in the council chambers at the Civic Center, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.