Still, businesses or people who “knowingly and willfully” violate the ordinance on a repeated basis could wind up with a warning, and eventually a citation before the yearlong campaign is over, said Steven Koszis, an analyst for the city’s Neighborhood Services Division.
While the outreach campaign was the top priority, he said, “it’s not a free ticket to smoke and ignore the education.”
The new regulations are among the most comprehensive in the county in terms of limiting second-hand smoke, health advocates said.
A required 10-foot separation between smokers and nonsmokers in outdoor dining patios is sure to eliminate second-hand smoke at all but the largest restaurants. Lighting up is also banned in 80% of all hotel rooms.
Smoking in all common areas of apartment complexes is also prohibited.
And while smoking is sill allowed on streets and sidewalks, those lighting up will have to make sure they are at least 20 feet away from a restricted area.
The citywide regulations — a first for Glendale — put the city in the same company as Burbank, Santa Monica and Calabasas. Pasadena is considering similar restrictions, while Los Angeles prohibitions could soon extend to outdoor dining.
For a city in which 15% of adults were found to be smokers in a 2007 county survey, the sudden saturation of the smoke-free areas may come as a jolt, some said Wednesday.
“It sounds like I’m going to have to go in hiding just have a cigarette,” said Arnette Gilford, who works downtown and takes a cigarette break on North Brand Boulevard several times a day. The 32-year-old has smoked for 10 years, a habit she picked up in college.
“I really hope they clearly mark all the different places where you can and can’t go, because we’re all creatures of habit,” Gilford said.
