HUNTINGTON PARK : City to Study Ban on Public Smoking

Mayor Ric Loya will ask the city attorney this week to draft an ordinance that would ban smoking in public workplaces.

Loya, a health teacher at Huntington Park High School, will ask fellow council members to consider sample ordinances from cities such as Laguna Hills and Pasadena as models of how a no-smoking ordinance could be instituted.

Laguna Hills, for example, has prohibited smoking in “all enclosed areas available to and customarily used by the general public,” including stores, malls, banks, self-service laundries and barbershops. A similar ban in Huntington Park would prohibit smoking in the city’s 1,700 businesses, including 95 restaurants.

The Laguna Hills ordinance, approved by that city last month, requires restaurants to immediately designate 50% of their seats as nonsmoking and mandates that they become smoke-free within a year.

A less restrictive law could affect new businesses only, requiring them to install separate ventilation systems for areas where smoking is allowed, Loya said. A no-smoking rule has been in place at Huntington Park City Hall since last November.

A recent survey of 100 restaurants in Bell, Maywood and Huntington Park showed that 55% of the restaurant owners would support a smoking ban in their establishments.