Health Panel Backs Proposed Smoking Ban
A recommendation that the city of Beverly Hills ban all smoking in restaurants was approved unanimously last week by the city’s Health Commission.
The proposal, approved by the advisory board late Tuesday, will be forwarded to the City Council.
The council referred the restaurant smoking-ban issue to health commissioners after a meeting in August at which a succession of witnesses, mostly non-residents, urged the council to follow the lead of Los Angeles and West Hollywood in passing a ban. West Hollywood Councilman Paul Koretz urged Beverly Hills to join in because a regional ban would provide economic safety in numbers for cities and their restaurants.
Beverly Hills enacted a restaurant smoking ban in 1987, but rescinded it after restaurant owners said they were losing patrons to West Hollywood and Los Angeles.
City law now requires restaurants to set aside 60% of the premises for nonsmokers, but exempts hotel restaurants. The commission’s proposal would ban smoking in all restaurants, including hotel restaurants.
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