Local Smoking Ban No Solution : Solana Beach’s action is laudable but countywide or statewide rules are needed

In a courageous move, the Solana Beach City Council last week decided to ban smoking from most public buildings in the city.

The Solana Beach ordinance, the most restrictive smoking ban in San Diego County, would prohibit lighting up in restaurants and workplaces beginning in September. Smoking in bars would be allowed, however.

While the council deserves praise for making a tough decision, the ordinance tackles a problem at the municipal level that would be solved best countywide or statewide.

In Solana Beach, as in any community that ever considered a smoking ban, restaurant owners fear that patrons who want to smoke will simply go out of town. Obviously, if surrounding communities also had smoke-free restaurants, diners would stay put. That’s why a countywide or statewide approach is preferable.

Banning smoking in public places isn’t a new issue. But because of the lack of leadership from the state, previous efforts by individual California communities to ban smoking have had mixed results.

A 1987 ban on smoking in Beverly Hills restaurants lasted just 2 1/2 months before the City Council succumbed to pressure from restaurateurs who claimed the regulation hurt their business. Now, Beverly Hills restaurants are allowed to fill 40% of their tables with smokers.

Voters in Del Mar in 1987 rejected a plan that would have banned smoking from all public places, including beaches and parks. The plan’s defeat was blamed on the spreading fear that tourists would go elsewhere.

But in 1990 an ordinance similar to the one under consideration in Solana Beach was adopted in Lodi, in northern California. It survived a subsequent legal challenge, and appears to be working without complication.

And in yet another 1990 case, San Luis Obispo imposed a smoking ban in all public buildings, including bars. That too, seems to be sitting well.

The future is likely to hold fewer places for smokers to indulge where nonsmokers are near. Second-hand smoke, once considered merely an annoyance, is now held responsible for 3,000 avoidable deaths a year, according to recent study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But the answer isn’t going to come from individual communities. The answer is to seek a uniform county or statewide regulation.