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CALABASAS : Council Votes to OK Ban on Smoking

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A ban on smoking in restaurants and most indoor public places has won preliminary approval from the Calabasas City Council. The council also indicated it might seek to strengthen the law to include work sites.

By a 4-1 vote, the council Wednesday night approved an ordinance banning smoking inside stores, restaurants and other buildings open to the public. Exceptions were made for bars, bar sections of restaurants, hotel rooms and tobacco stores. The measure also would require managers of other work places to designate nonsmoking areas.

The ordinance is scheduled for a final vote Sept. 22, and would take effect 30 days after that.

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“If we are going to be a health-conscious city, it seems only logical to approve this ban on smoking,” Mayor Marvin Lopata said. “I think we have an obligation to protect the health and wellness of the people who live in Calabasas.”

But Councilwoman Lesley Devine, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the law would be an inappropriate intrusion by government into the private sector, and likened the smoking debate that has erupted in many cities to the controversy over abortion.

“I don’t think we should have Big Brother telling everybody what to do,” Devine said. “I don’t believe the government should tell women what to do with their bodies, and I don’t think it should tell restaurant owners how to run their businesses.”

The Calabasas ordinance is nearly identical to a law approved by the Agoura Hills City Council last week.

After testimony from anti-smoking advocates, who cited well-publicized reports on the hazards of secondhand smoke, several Calabasas council members said they might be interested in expanding the law to include all workplaces.

The city of Moorpark in July approved a ban on smoking in both public places and work sites.

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