Bellflower Seeks Grant to Promote Smoke-Free City

Bellflower, which last year passed the strictest no-smoking ordinance in Southern California, has applied for a $400,000 state Department of Health Services grant to promote itself as a smoke-free city and attract diners, shoppers and new businesses looking for such an environment.

Bellflower plans to use freeway billboards, local and regional newspapers, business journals, cable television and national restaurant trade magazines to publicize its ordinance, which bans smoking entirely in restaurants and most buildings with public access.

The city faces heavy competition for the grant, which would come from money from the statewide cigarette tax, Proposition 99, approved by voters in 1988. According to the health department’s tobacco control section, there are $15 million in grant funds for 1992 and applications totaling nearly $100 million have been received from cities, youth groups, nonprofit organizations and social service agencies. Winners will be announced March 13.