LOS ANGELES : Council to Order Study on Impact of Smoking Ban

By the narrowest of margins, the City Council voted Tuesday to commission a study on the economic impact of the 7-month-old ban on smoking in restaurants.

A private research firm released a report Monday saying that more than half of 300 restaurateurs who were surveyed reported losing customers to competitors in neighboring cities that allow diners to light up.

“If all entities in the county of Los Angeles were held to the same standard, then there would be no need to even look at this issue,” Councilman Richard Alatorre said.

The losing side in Tuesday’s 8-7 vote accused the study’s proponents of placing business interests above the health of restaurant workers and customers.

“I feel this measure is a smoke screen,” Councilwoman Laura Chick said. “It’s designed to lead the council to reconsider lifting the ban on smoking in restaurants.”

The council passed the restaurant smoking ban on an 8-6 vote in June. It became effective two months later, making Los Angeles the biggest city in the country to adopt such a law.

In Tuesday’s vote, Alatorre was joined by Council President John Ferraro and Councilmen Richard Alarcon, Hal Bernson, Mike Hernandez, Nate Holden, Rudy Svorinich Jr. and Joel Wachs.

Voting no were Councilwomen Chick, Ruth Galanter, Jackie Goldberg and Rita Walters, and Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude, the latter of whom wrote most of the city’s anti-smoking laws.