Council Bans Smoking in Stadium Seats : Ordinance: Lighting up at all events in the seating area of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium will be a misdemeanor.

The San Diego City Council approved an ordinance Monday making it a misdemeanor to smoke in the seating areas at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

With a second reading expected in two weeks, followed by a 45-day waiting period, the new law is scheduled to take effect the day before the San Diego Padres home opener April 9.

The stadium is believed to be the first open-air venue to prohibit smoking for all events. While other cities have banned smoking at stadiums, it was done only for games played by a certain team, such as the Oakland Athletics and the Dallas Cowboys.

“This is going to be the wave of the future,” predicted City Manager Jack McGrory. “I think people are beginning to realize the problems of secondary smoke and what effect lighting up cigarettes and cigars can have on health.”

The council voted 8 to 1 in favor of the ban Monday. The dissenting vote came from Councilman Tom Behr, who wanted luxury boxes included in the prohibition. Excluding the boxes sends “a confusing message to the public,” he said. “This should be an all-encompassing ban if we’re going to do this at all.”

Behr’s colleagues disagreed, arguing that smoking in the enclosed private boxes should come at the discretion of the owner or leaseholder. The ban would apply to the open-air seats in front of each luxury box, McGrory said.

Smoking would be limited to the concourse and plaza areas where concession stands are located. Stadium officials have agreed to install extra closed-circuit televisions at those locations, so those who smoke can still watch the game.

Monday’s decision did not come quickly.

Four years ago, forces on both side of the issue packed meetings of the council and the Stadium Authority Board to argue their case. About two years ago, subtle messages such as “Please be considerate of your neighbors” were directed at smokers from the stadium scoreboard.

Still, complaints against smokers flooded the offices of the San Diego Padres and Chargers. For stadium officials, what to do became a tricky question: how to satisfy nonsmokers without offending those who were believed it was their right to smoke at a game.

In the end, they said, it came down to economics. The majority of fans wanted smoking to cease and last November, executives with the San Diego Padres, San Diego Chargers and San Diego State University Aztecs announced their enforcement of a ban at all of their games.

By December, the nine-member Stadium Authority Board, appointed by the City Council and County Board of Supervisors, voted to ban smoking altogether by an 8 to 1 vote.

On Jan. 1, stadium officials extended the ban to all events, such as tractor pulls, concerts and the Holiday Bowl, but didn’t have the force of law to back up the prohibition.

Promoter Rick Miller, who staged a recent motorcycle “Supercross” race at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium several weeks ago, believed the ordinance was already in affect. Stadium officials asked Miller if he wanted people arrested for smoking.

“I thought they were joking,” said Miller, vice president of operations for Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, which staged the event. “I told them to take a very positive approach and to just warn people about the problem.”

Miller’s company distributed thousands of flyers to racing fans warning them about no-smoking rules. Warnings also were flashed on the scoreboard. Miller said he heard no complaints about the no-smoking policy in place at the race.

If the ordinance is approved, city and stadium officials stressed that they will not ask police to write tickets unless someone is adamant about smoking. A verbal warning will be issued, followed by a second warning. If the smoking persists, a stadium-goer will then be asked to leave by an usher, a security guard or a police officer, and a misdemeanor citation will be given.

“We’re not just going to start writing tickets if we see people smoking,” said Steve Shushan, the assistant stadium manager. “The situation would really have to escalate before a ticket is written.”