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Pismo Beach significantly expands smoking ban

April 16, 2019

The city of Pismo Beach has extended its existing ban on smoking in certain public areas to many new places, a regulation that will take effect this week and will subject violators to hefty fines. [Cal Coast Times]

Pismo Beach previously restricted smoking in public parks and playgrounds and on the beach and pier, as well as near publicly owned buildings. Starting Thursday, outdoor dining areas in Pismo Beach will also become smoke-free zones.

Additionally, the smoking ban will be extended to entryways to various buildings; farmers’ markets and special events open to the public; bus stops; ATM machines and other service areas; recreational areas like bike paths, hiking trails and sports fields; and unenclosed places of employment. Likewise, the ban on smoking will apply to sidewalks along Shell Beach Road and Five Cities Drive and in the downtown area. Vaping, too, will be prohibited in those areas.

“It is the intent of the city council to protect adults and children from the potential dangers of second hand smoke while they enjoy the Pismo Beach community,” Mayor Ed Waage said. “Additionally, the proliferation of smoking-related litter detracts from the standards that our residents and visitors alike have come to expect from our city.”

Violators of the smoking regulations will face $250 fines for the first violation and higher fines for repeated violations. The city will install signs in the downtown area to notify the public about the new smoking regulations.

City Manager Jim Lewis said the city’s goal is compliance, not citations.

“We want everyone to have an enjoyable experience,” Lewis said. “Limiting smoking in other areas throughout the city has been beneficial and there has been positive voluntary compliance; we expect the same will occur with the expanded prohibited areas.”


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if smoke of any kind is dangerous ,,,, then how come we dont see fire fighters dropping like flies ,,,,,I know a bunch of fire fighters their lungs are in great shape they spend hundereds of hours inhaling smoke and toxic smoke ,,,,nothing wrong with them ….but walking by a person smoking a cigarette is dangerous ……Next they will ban farting as nobody likes the smell of farts let alone its allegedly causing global warming AKA climate change ….OKEE DOKEE if ya buy that I have a bridge in Arizona I will sell ya….I have properties in other states besides CA everytime I drive to them as soon as I cross the stateline the roads are all brand new for hundereds of miles and gasoline is 2.79 a gallon at every gas station 90 cents more a gallon at minimum in California everytime I turn around something is giving me a sign to pack my bags ,,,,if I did I can smoke at a restaurant at my table


0

I’m a vegan. I believe it’s immoral, violent, evil, mean and wrong to kill animals and eat their flesh.


I’m deeply offended by the smell of BBQ smoke, especially second-hand BBQ smoke. Furthermore, I can find statistics (STATISTICS!!!) that show BBQ smoke is bad for children, asthmatics, people with COPD and a long list of various groups with victim status.


The stress of knowing that if I go out in public I’m going to smell burning flesh and see the smoke rising from the charred carcasses of our fellow earth-dwellers who were murdered in cruel, in-human ways—like animals— carved up and burnt over a fire made from felled trees (FELLED TREES OMG!!!)….this stress is too much for me!


I want laws that ban eating meat, lighting fires and slaughtering animals. I want laws that protect me from all kinds of smoke, not just tobacco smoke. BBQ smoke is far worse, physically and spiritually.


I also feel that my moral stance on this subject is better, more righteous, and of far more worth than anyone else’s ideas. All of you need to see things my way…..or get a hefty fine written up for you by one of cops I have on speed-dial so I can report you if you light a fire.


When it comes to smoke, it’s my way. Period. No one else has rights. No other viewpoints are allowed, other than mine.


BTW, I’m running for office. I want to clean up this town and make it safe for militant vegans.


0

A little help for your wood burning crusade.


http://www.ehhi.org/woodsmoke_EHHI2015.pdf


0

Hey, add “Vaping” to the list, I hate walking through a cloud of that crap!


-1

Vaping is on the list, as long as it contains nicotine from what I read. We also have to add deep fryers to the list, they release the same nicotine laden vegetable oil vapor into the air when potatoes are fried in it, although the vapor is not as visible to the eye, the nose still detects it clearly. Imagine how much nicotine and vegetable oil vapor a fast food worker inhales on a daily basis working the fryers. Even so, none of that compares to the toxins inhaled just standing on the sidewalk of a busy street for 10 minutes due to car exhaust.


6

MysticOne:


You make some excellent points. I hadn’t considered the outrageous, deadly, offensive, disconcerting, inconvenient, racist, xenophobic, hyper-nationalistic, pathological, selfish, narcissistic, ignorant, negligent, malicious, low-IQ, capitalistic and unsustainable use of deep fryers. Especially second hand vapors produced when animal flesh is deep fried along with vegetable matter.


No wonder people don’t keep fast-food jobs long term! They’re all dead, or severely injured from second hand fryer vapors. And no one seems to care. We need to apply for grant money and start a national awareness campaign to re-educate and properly indoctrinate the public.


I think we need to ban deep frying along with BBQing, vaping and smoking.


People don’t know what’s good for them! Maybe they never learned it in school, or maybe they just don’t care…..either way, it’s up to righteous people like you and me to force them into living better.


Great points!


2

Did you know that vaping with propylene glycol (used as a carrier for all flavorings and is sometimes added as its own ingredient to thin out the juice) actually makes the air healthier by killing microorganisms?


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2135271/


4

You’re a heretic! Everything related to tobacco is evil. If people started believing the facts what would happen to the agenda of control?


5

Walk into any casino in reno and you see people smoking everywhere .Walk In to a restaurant in Texas … They will ask smoking or non smoking section and there is ash trays on the tables .Buttt not in California .. They ban smoking but yet CA people can’t wait to get in their car and HUFF car exhaust for hours sitting in traffic jams .. Makes absolutely no sense


2

All this noise about demonizing Tabaco makes me want to start smoking again, light one up and take a stroll down Pomeroy. Philadelphia is proposing an injection site for drug addicts. When Pismo opens one of those, I won’t feel as much rage about the smoking ban.


1

I guess this is sort of good. But… I’d rather smell a few cigs here and there than be forced to smell the seemingly never-ending BBQs, chemical fire starters, and fireplace fires of my neighbors. Like DocT pointed out, there is a buttload of hypocrisy involved.


8

Tyranny….the parks and public streets belong to all of us….smokers and non smokers alike….


10

Borderline money grab – how’re they going to enforce the outside smoking anyway? Hire a regiment of ‘smoker-police’?


8

Banning smoking will keep the public safe from disease and early death due to second hand smoke, etc.


But why stop there? Why not ban the sale of tobacco….like the drug war? All use of illegal drugs stopped during the Drug War, right?


But seriously, why stop there? Why not ban thinking about smoking? If we make it a crime to think about smoking, or think about buying tobacco products, then not only can we keep people from smoking but we can save even more lives.


It’s time to get super-duper tough on things that used to be considered a personal choice! We all know that smoking causes death….it says so all over tobacco product labels. But if people STILL choose to purchase, think about purchasing, or—-gasp—-actually smoking, shouldn’t they be subject to hefty fines and imprisonment?


That’s how we stopped people from using drugs. Why not use the same awesome strategy to get people to stop smoking…..and more importantly to stop thinking about smoking, which would end addiction.


Public policy is easy! Just ASSume that everyone thinks like I do and make up laws to force them to behave the way I want them to behave! Win/Win!!! Plus we can collect fines.


2

Doc T–many of us could care less what adults do in their own home. Smoke whatever…drink…just don’t get in a car afterwards.


As for Pismo’s smoking ban, why is it ok for a minority of smokers to make the majority of us non-smokers uncomfortable? Second-hand smoke is a real issue. Pismo’s PUBLIC areas can be smoke-free & other PUBLIC areas should be too.


Again–smoke in your own private place but smoking in public infringes on my rights & those of my kids.


-5

I should say that I’m not against a smoking ban “in public.” IE on buses, inside public buildings, school buildings, etc. That’s not problematic in my opinion.


You mention your rights. Amen.


But other people also have rights, including people who choose to smoke. Why should you infringe on their rights by banning outdoor use of tobacco?


What about the rights of property owners who put a bar or restaurant on their property and who wish to allow smoking? Why should their rights be subject to your wishes?


If people want to smoke let them! You and me will choose non-smoking places to eat. Let the smokers do their thing, we’ll do ours. I don’t want them smoking in my restaurant, but in the same way I don’t want to dictate what they do in theirs.


I think we’re all better off when we stop minding everyone else’s business.


6

Not trying to be argumentative, I am honestly curious, what rights do you feel are being infringed on when someone smokes in a public place?


I have a neighbor that smokes on the sidewalk outside my condo non stop to the point I can’t open my windows to let fresh air in anytime the neighbor is home. I have to watch for them to leave to open the windows and then close them as soon as they get home. Who likes to live like that, always keeping an eye outside to see when a neighbor leaves or comes home just to protect the air in your own home? HOA says the smoker is on a public sidewalk and can smoke there, city says it is ok as well. If there are rights being infringed on, I would love to know which ones, but I highly doubt that is true. If we had a right to breath clean air in public then gas/diesel powered vehicles would be banned for obvious reasons.


-1