YORBA LINDA : Hearing to Be Held on Smoking Ban

Three to four times a week, Don Baker has lunch at the Main Street Restaurant. Usually, he ends his meals with two things: a drink from the bar and a couple of cigarettes.

Baker considers his cigarette habit--and that of countless other residents, workers and visitors in the city--a personal choice, but it is about to become the subject of public debate.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Wednesday on an amendment to the city’s anti-smoking ordinance that would ban lighting up in all public places and places of employment.

The ban was proposed last month by Councilman Henry W. Wedaa, who cited a city-sponsored survey that indicated more than 70% of residents support such a ban. The survey, which polled 400 residents, was conducted last June.

“Secondhand smoke is a killer,” Wedaa said. “More than 430,000 people die each year as a direct result of smoking. How many die in Yorba Linda, I wonder.”

Wedaa wants the council to approve the amendment soon, using the public hearing process to gather reaction from residents. But at least two other councilmen want to place the matter before the voters in November.

“I don’t have people knocking on my door,” asking for a ban, said Councilman John M. Gullixson. “Let’s put it on the ballot and let the people regulate themselves.”

Councilman Daniel T. Welch also wants residents to vote on a ban. It would cost the city about $10,000 to put the measure on the ballot. The financial effect of imposing a smoking ban has not been calculated.

If the amendment is adopted as written, Yorba Linda would be the first North County city to enact the ban and would join Laguna Hills as the only cities in the county to ban smoking in both restaurants and workplaces.

A similar ban was adopted late last year by the Board of Supervisors, but it affects only unincorporated areas of the county.

According to Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, four Orange County cities have enacted smoking bans for restaurants: Dana Point, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, which are phasing in the ban, and San Juan Capistrano.

By his own reckoning, Baker spends between $100 and $200 a week treating colleagues to lunch and entertaining clients at Main Street. But that would change if the ban was approved.

“Very simply, I won’t come here if I can’t enjoy a cigarette,” Baker said. “I will never visit a restaurant that does not have a smoking section. I would rather bring my lunch to work and eat it in the park.”

While restaurant owners have not yet voiced much opposition publicly to the proposed ban, Gullixson said several who he had talked to feared it would hurt business.

“They said if it was a countywide ban, it would not affect business,” Gullixson said. “But if it’s just in Yorba Linda, smokers will drive elsewhere.”

Roslyn Ruocco, owner of Main Street Restaurant, said she opposes a ban on smoking in restaurants for philosophical, not just financial, reasons.

“I just don’t feel (the city) should be able to take that privilege away,” said Ruocco, a former smoker.

Ruocco estimated that most of her customers do not smoke and said the smoking section is often empty. Reserving several tables and booths for smokers could be costing her money, she admits, because the nonsmoking section fills up faster and nonsmoking patrons often must wait for a table in that section.

Nonetheless, Ruocco said, “I prefer to save a spot for my few customers who enjoy smoking.”