NEWPORT BEACH : Tougher Ordinance on Smoking Sought

A resident is encouraging the city to toughen its anti-smoking ordinance by banning tobacco smoke at work and public places and by increasing the amount of smoke-free restaurant space.

Kimberly Herold-Ditzler is spearheading a campaign and will meet with city officials Friday to discuss it. She is seeking a public hearing before the City Council on the prospect of a revised ordinance.

Several city officials say they don’t see the need for any toughening of the city’s current regulations.

But Herold-Ditzler, with the backing of the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Assn. and a number of other groups, is vowing to press on.

Herold-Ditzler said the issue is one of public health.

“It’s not a rights issue. . . . I don’t care if people smoke or not, just don’t smoke if it’s going to have a fatal effect on the person next to you,” she said.

Herold-Ditzler brought the issue before a council study session earlier this month with the help of Councilman John C. Cox Jr.

Her efforts, however, met with lukewarm interest from council members. Newport Beach revised its smoking ordinance to its present form in 1985, and some members questioned the need to rehash the issue now.

“What’s wrong with our ordinance?” Mayor Phil Sansone asked flatly.

City Manager Robert L. Wynn said: “We visited the subject in great depth (seven years ago). Both parties seemed reasonably satisfied.”

“There is only so much a city can do,” Councilwoman Ruthelyn Plummer said. “For us to do what you are requiring, we don’t have the resources.”

Herold-Ditzler’s arguments for stricter measures center on the issue of secondhand smoke and the harmful effects it can have on nonsmokers.

Her proposal targets workstations and employee cafeterias that are used by both smokers and nonsmokers.

She proposes making smoke-free workplaces mandatory; the city’s current ordinance simply encourages--but does not require--employers to offer nonsmoking environments.

Also, Herold-Ditzler wants to strengthen the city’s restaurant regulations to set aside 50% of dining space for nonsmokers; current regulations require 25% in eateries with 50 seats or more.

In addition, while the current ordinance already bans smoking in many public facilities, Herold-Ditzler’s proposal would expand it to include sports arenas, convention halls and common areas of apartment buildings and other dwellings.

While business leaders have opposed Newport Beach’s anti-smoking regulations in the past, Richard Luehrs, president of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber will hold off judging Herold-Ditzler’s latest proposal. But he said the group would be watching it closely to guard the business community’s interests in the city.