Farrell’s Vote on Smoking Ban in Restaurants

With their vote against a smoking ban, members of the Los Angeles City Council place restaurateurs’ wealth concerns above their constituents’ health concerns (Part A, Oct. 17). If the restaurant owners said the only way they could make money was to use plates made from cheap uranium waste that would keep food warm without using expensive energy, or perhaps asbestos napkins that would last a long time and survive careless flambeau chefs, would the council still side with the owners? The risks are probably no worse than tobacco smoke.

The argument that people will dine somewhere else might have had some legitimacy in Beverly Hills where it’s hard to be more than two miles from the border, but that is not the case in Los Angeles. Our city should set the example which would allow smaller cities the freedom to follow suit.

BRUCE CARROLL

Los Angeles