A Burning Issue: Outlawing Public Smoking in Del Mar

Some people think it’s a political ploy.

Others think it’s unenforceable.

And quite a few think it’s just plain crazy.

But former Del Mar mayor and sometime environmentalist Richard Roe says the initiative campaign he kicked off last week--to ban smoking in all parts of Del Mar except private homes and automobiles--is a humanitarian gesture prompted by pure, disinterested concern for the health and welfare of his fellow creatures.

And what’s more, he thinks he can get it done.

His game plan is simple: Roe, an ex-smoker who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Assembly three years ago, plans to gather enough signatures (about 600, he estimates) on initiative petitions to force a special election on his proposal to prohibit smoking in all public places, all places of employment and all city property in the City of Del Mar.

Not everyone is enthusiastic, of course.

Del Mar Mayor Arlene Carsten, a smoker, said she has already had one call from a woman who screamed, “Who is that fascist? He can’t do that!” And she tends to agree. Carsten called the plan unsound, unenforceable and unconstitutional--and pointed out that the special election would cost the city at least $6,000.

Del Mar Councilman Scott Barnett, a nonsmoker, frowned over the kind of nationwide publicity it might generate. The town has an elitist image already, he said; a citywide smoking ban could brand Del Mar as downright eccentric.

But Roe only smiles at such criticisms.

He has “no comment” concerning a suggestion (from Barnett) that he might be following the example of Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who gained her first statewide political victory crusading on the single issue of abolishing pay toilets in public restrooms.

He admits he hasn’t worked out all the details: If it’s legal to smoke inside an automobile, is it a violation to exhale out the window? Should the fairgrounds be exempt during rock concerts? And he can even manage a smile at the suggestion that the city create a whole new corps of “Ciggie Cops” equipped with gas masks and water pistols.

Cigarette smoke, he declares, is damaging the lungs and sinuses of smokers and nonsmokers alike and should be regulated with the same vigor as other noxious gases.

A mail sampling he undertook last fall, he says, indicated that 60% of the voters would go along with him.

But there are always a few die-hards: One vagabond who calls Del Mar’s Seagrove Park his home expressed disgust and outrage.

“It’s hard enough snagging butts now,” he grumbled. “That guy must be crazy!”