WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Anti-Smoking Measure Approved

A smoking ban for restaurants and other public places was given final approval by the Westlake Village City Council on Wednesday.

By a unanimous vote, the council signed off on a measure that would ban smoking in restaurants, workplaces, hospitals and recreation areas--just about everywhere, in fact, except bars with their own ventilation, smoking rooms in hotels, private residences, clubs and some commercial establishments.

The measure, which drew virtually no opposition in Westlake Village, is stricter than similar measures recently adopted in Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Los Angeles. Smoking in those cities is permitted in bar sections of restaurants, even if the ventilation is shared.

In adopting a smoking ban, Westlake Village joins more than 40 cities in California that have outlawed restaurant smoking, responding to growing concern that inhaling secondhand smoke is a health hazard.

Although such anti-smoking measures have been controversial elsewhere, not a single person spoke against the issue at a public hearing in Westlake Village .

When city officials polled local restaurateurs about the measure, they found little opposition, said City Councilman Ken Rufener.

“I just think that Westlake Village doesn’t get upset very much about things,” Rufener said. “They kind of just go along.”