Long Beach Council Joins Wave, Voting to Ban Smoking on Beaches

Long Beach has joined the growing number of Southern California communities determined to stem the tide of cigarette butts on the beach.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to ban smoking on local beaches.

Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach and San Clemente are among the other Southland communities that bar smoking on the sand.

“When I’m out walking, I notice a huge portion of the debris on our beaches is cigarette butts,” said Councilman Dan Baker, who proposed the ban. “These new regulations are an important step in helping clean up the beach.”

He said he hoped the ban would also discourage young people from smoking.

Geoff Hall, special project director for the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, said he believed the time for the ban had come.

It was endorsed even though Hall’s department had previously recommended against it, arguing that the city doesn’t have enough police officers and other personnel to monitor smokers on the beach.

The department “didn’t want to see those limited resources we have for enforcement taken away from things they see as a higher priority,” Hall said.

But backers of the ban are hopeful that no-smoking signs will be enough to deter most would-be smokers.

“Most people will self-police themselves and do the right thing,” Baker said.

Among the letters submitted in support of the ban was one from resident Cecelia Williams, who wrote: “I have little sisters and they like to put things in [their mouths], so I get afraid to take my sisters to the beach ... so please stop the smokers from smoking on the beach.”

City officials decided not to extend the ban to beach parking lots, the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, and the outdoor dining areas of beach concessions. Anyone organizing special events on the beach will have to come up with a plan for cigarette disposal.

The city attorney is now drafting the ordinance, which must go back to the council for approval. If passed, the ban would go into effect 30 days later.

Violators would probably be charged with an infraction and could be fined as much as $500, city officials said.