Toughest No-Smoking Plan Wins Ballot Spot

Voters here will get a chance to adopt what is described as the toughest anti-smoking law in the nation--a measure that would ban smoking in all public places, indoors and outdoors, including beaches, sidewalks and city streets--the City Council decided.

In a unanimous vote late Monday, the council certified that backers of the anti-smoking initiative had gathered the necessary signatures to qualify the proposal for the November municipal ballot.

While opponents contend that the measure would be nearly impossible to enforce, supporters of the initiative, who garnered signatures from 10% of the city’s voters, heralded the proposal as a necessary step toward “a smokeless society.”

The measure would ban smoking in all public gathering places, such as parks, restaurants, stores and offices. Three “designated smoking areas” would be created for those who want to light up within the city limit of the seaside community, population 5,200, which is located just north of San Diego. Residents would still be free to smoke in their homes and yards.

Richard Roe, a former Del Mar mayor and erstwhile smoker turned anti-smoking activist, introduced the so-called Roe Health Initiative more than a year ago, saying he envisioned Del Mar as a pioneer in the anti-smoking effort.

The campaign was launched, Roe said, after he grew tired of breathing other people’s smoke while waiting for public transportation or sitting in public places.

City officials say it would cost about $100,000 a year to enforce the proposal, most of that going for signs that would be posted in public areas warning against smoking. Most council members oppose the measure.

Roe, however, contends that the no-smoking proposal will prove to be self-enforcing, noting that predictions that San Francisco’s no-smoking law would be unenforceable proved to be wrong.