Smoking

I'm 87 years old, I smoked for 50 years. I stopped 25 years ago and have never picked up another cigarette. I have had high-blood-pressure problems for the last 35 years, along with thyroid problems. Five years ago, I developed gout. Shortly after that, I had shortness of breath. I developed shingles - I was sure I lost my mind over that. Things have been just happening one after another. I now have an erratic heartbeat, weak kidneys and just went through an operation for a stomach ailment.

Glendale has come a long way down the path of cessation, of smoking that is. In a city that once seemed destined to remain an also-ran in the race by local governments to restrict secondhand smoke, Glendale has rebounded to the head of the pack. Now, smoking in most publicly accessible places is illegal — from restaurant patios to bus stops and parks. But a war has also been raging on the back end, the point of sale. Health officials and regulators have for years cracked down on merchants selling tobacco products to minors, teens particularly vulnerable to the marketing and peer pressure of smoking.

CITY HALL — Glendale’s business community, backed by the Chamber of Commerce, could complicate the City Council’s efforts on Tuesday to adopt city-wide smoking restrictions amid fears that they would further discourage customers in an already sour economy. It is the first organized opposition to the proposed smoking prohibitions so far for the council, which until now has been bolstered with strong support from the health community and nonsmokers. The proposed ordinance prohibits smoking on all city property, except sidewalks, as long as the smoker is at least 20 feet away from a restricted area.

Come Jan. 1, there will be no butts about it at Glendale's two largest hospitals. Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center and Glendale Adventist Medical Center will become smoke-free in the new year. Ashtrays will be gone, "no smoking" signs will be visible and everyone — from patients and visitors to nurses and hospital brass — will be barred from smoking in clinics, parking areas and anywhere else on campus. Verdugo Hills Hospital plans to be smoke-free by the end of 2011, a spokeswoman said.

Karen S. Kim Glendale's smokers might have lit a little flame in Councilman Bob Yousefian's heart, prompting him to soften his original position of supporting a total ban on cigarettes and cigars in city parks. The council discussed banning smoking in parks at its meeting Tuesday. "I actually changed my mind while I was driving home Tuesday," he said Thursday. "My preference is to have no smoking at all, but I think I need to put my own feelings aside and act like what a council person should be. After all, people who smoke and go to the park pay taxes, too."

Karen S. Kim Councilman Gus Gomez might have trouble getting the support of his colleagues Tuesday when the council considers designating smoking areas in Glendale's parks. "I don't support it," Councilman Dave Weaver said Friday. "It's a nice political thing to come up with, but parks are outside. Restaurants allow people to go outside and smoke, so are you going to start saying people can't smoke outside because people can walk by and smell cigarettes?

It's perhaps the most redundant and least substantive proposal addressing a so-called issue to hit the council dais in years, but I do wish Glendale Councilman Gus Gomez had been given his way (mostly) to restrict smokers in Glendale parks. Then everyone might have had energy left to address the most appalling revelation in the entire fiasco, actually facing up to the sorts of tough, real problems most voters want them to address, everyday issues from which certain council members have been running at full speed in anticipation of the upcoming election.

CITY HALL — A six-month public education campaign to prepare Glendale for one of the most comprehensive sets of anti-smoking restrictions in the Southland is scheduled to hit the airwaves later this month, city officials said. The regulations officially took effect in November, but code enforcers have been holding off on strict enforcement until after the education campaign. Glendale’s historically permissive smoking culture was struck down last year when the City Council voted to prohibit lighting up on all city property, including parks, in common areas of apartment complexes, outdoor dining areas that can’t meet strict separation requirements, and nearly all publicly accessible private property, such as the Marketplace and Americana at Brand.

CITY HALL — Broad public smoking restrictions were put on the fast track Tuesday after the City Council dismissed a suggested series of public input meetings as “duplicative,” instead directing staff to return with a stringent draft ordinance that council members said would elicit many of the same stakeholder opinions during the required public hearing. Cutting public outreach out of the process, at least for now, is expected to shave months off the adoption of any potential public smoking restrictions that are sure to go beyond Glendale’s current bans on smoking inside city buildings or within 25 feet of outdoor seating areas at parks or during public events.

The same plethora of cigarette butts still clutters the parts of the Glendale Community College campus I walk through every other morning, which I’ve hollered about on this page quite a few times. In fact, the other morning there was some yahoo billowing smoke right outside the open entrance to the Verdugo Gym fitness center. Immediately adjacent to the college on both Mountain Street and Verdugo Road there are newly placed city banners proclaiming “Glendale Fresh Air, Smoke Free Public Places, It’s the Law.” It’s disgusting that the college appears to be ignoring the banners’ message.

VALLEY GLEN - The stage was set for the Renaissance Academy boys' basketball team to knock off La Verne Lutheran, the No. 2 team in CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA. The Trojans were without their dominant power forward Grant Jerrett, who injured his ankle Tuesday, and the Wildcats controlled the first half and were sitting pretty with a 15-point lead midway through the third quarter. Then everything started to unravel for Renaissance, the top-ranked team in Division VI, as La Verne Lutheran started clicking and dominated the last 12 minutes of the game to pull off a 54-45 comeback victory at L.A. Valley College on Wednesday night.

I'm 87 years old, I smoked for 50 years. I stopped 25 years ago and have never picked up another cigarette. I have had high-blood-pressure problems for the last 35 years, along with thyroid problems. Five years ago, I developed gout. Shortly after that, I had shortness of breath. I developed shingles - I was sure I lost my mind over that. Things have been just happening one after another. I now have an erratic heartbeat, weak kidneys and just went through an operation for a stomach ailment.

Landlords in California will have clear authority to ban smoking in apartment buildings under a measure signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) authored the legislation, which takes effect Jan. 1, in response to concerns that the law was murky on whether smoking can be banned in apartments. Under SB 332, landlords must notify tenants where smoking is prohibited in an apartment complex, including whether it is banned in specific apartments.  L.A. TIMES

As a citizen of Glendale, I am just wondering if loitering, smoking and littering laws are in fact still laws within the city. On any given day or night (mostly night), you can find groups of teens and young adults hanging around in parking lots all across the city. They play their music, smoke cigarettes and throw all their trash right where they stand. They try to intimidate others and make the parking lots very uncomfortable places to be. The parking lots next to Carl's Jr. on Glenoaks, the 7-Eleven on the corner of Glenoaks and Highland and the Ralphs parking lot on Glendale Avenue near Glendale Community College are just a few of the hot spots.

The San Gabriel Mountains are clearly on the mend from the devastation of the Station fire, with flora and fauna coming back and areas reopened for public use. But as the two-year anniversary of the fire arrives, some important matters remain untended, leaving the region more at risk from inevitable future wildfires than it need be. The mystery of who started the Station fire remains unsolved, but that may not be the most pressing question....

Glendale's Fresh Air Ordinance (via the Neighborhood Services Division of the Community Planning Department) is a thoughtful attempt to protect nonsmokers from the toxic effects of residual cigarette smoke in “common areas” of the city - including common areas of apartment buildings. It would be wonderful if all smokers in the city obeyed that law. But they don't. What happens when a nonsmoker puts in a complaint about free-for-all smoking in their building? Once Neighborhood Services places no-smoking signs that are ignored, and sends enforcement officers out to talk to noncompliant smokers whose behavior remains unchanged … then what?

Attempts to change city rules for hookah lounges to operate legally in Glendale went up in smoke Tuesday night as the City Council decided to stick with the status quo. That means businesses that sell hookah - currently there are two that city officials say they are aware of - will be getting notices of violations. If they don't nix their illegal hookah activities, the city can take them to court, which could lead to jail time or fines, said Neighborhood Services Administrator Sam Engel.

Californians are kicking the habit. The rate of adult smoking has dropped sharply over the last two decades, reaching its lowest level on record, largely because of aggressive tobacco control campaigns by state and local governments, officials said. Last year, 11.9% of Californians said they smoked, down from 25.9% in 1984, the earliest data available, according to the California Department of Public Health. Only one other state had a lower smoking rate last year: Utah with 9.1%.

GLENDALE — With a four-run lead and just six outs left to record, the Crescenta Valley 9-10 Softball All-Stars could all but taste victory. But the end result on Saturday afternoon wasn't so sweet for the local squad. A pair of error-fueled rallies by South El Monte tied the game and sent it to extra innings, where Crescenta Valley saw its run in the Southern California State Championships Tournament ended by a 9-7 loss in the seventh at Ribbons Little League Field in Victorville.

The rate of smoking in the greater Glendale area has dropped to below 10%, according to a new study released this week. The Glendale Community Needs Assessment, required by law every three years, identifies health trends to help Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital, Verdugo Hills Hospital and nearly two dozen healthcare and social service agencies better tailor their services to local needs. Many of the main service providers comprise the Glendale Healthier Communities Coalition, which heard the report on Tuesday.