2 Cities Will Get $50,000 Each to Publicize No-Smoking Laws

Bellflower and Whittier will each receive $50,000 from the state Department of Health Services to publicize no-smoking regulations. The money will be available May 1 after the cities work out agreements with the state agency on use of the funds, which come from Proposition 99, the statewide cigarette tax increase approved by voters in 1988.

With the strictest no-smoking ordinance in Southern California, Bellflower will use the money to promote its status as a smoke-free city through a media campaign aimed at attracting diners, shoppers and new businesses desiring a no-smoking environment.

Whittier will conduct an educational program in conjunction with the July 1 implementation of the city’s stringent smoking-control ordinance. It will use brochures, workshops and promotional programs.

Bellflower has eliminated smoking in restaurants. In Whittier, smoking will be banned in enclosed public areas, such as hotel lobbies and stores, on July 1. Restaurants must make 75% of their seating nonsmoking--and prohibit smoking in 1993--and businesses must designate smoking areas.

The two Southeast-area cities were among 99 cities, youth groups, nonprofit organizations and social service agencies that received $17 million in grants through the health services’s tobacco control section, which funds anti-smoking projects. Carol Motylewski, an agency consultant, said 294 agencies applied.