Alameda City Council Considers Tightening Limits on Smoking

Alameda’s air may soon have less secondhand smoke. 

The city council instructed staff to draft proposals tightening Alameda's secondhand smoke laws Tuesday night.

Alameda received an F from The American Lung Association in January.

"Do what you need to do to go from an F to an A, or better yet, an A+," Councilmember Lena Tam said to staff.

Most other cities in Alameda County fall between an A and a D, with Piedmont the only other F.

Acting City Manager Lisa Goldman and staff presented council with suggestions for improving policies in four key areas: protections for indoor or enclosed spaces, protections for outdoor public spaces, secondhand smoke housing policies and reducing sales to minors.

Alameda residents — 14 in all, young and old — addressed council, supporting stricter regulations and citing their negative experiences with secondhand smoke.

"I walk down Park Street on a daily basis, and there are always people smoking," said Elizabeth Wong, 15, a student at Alameda High School.

As an athlete, Wong said she tries to take care of her health, but her daily exposure to secondhand smoke makes this difficult.

"I have to walk through clouds of smoke."

"Ventilation draws smoke in from smokers above and below me," said Zalman Sher, owner of American Electrical on Santa Clara Avenue. "I'm being killed from smoke as I sleep. We need these laws; we can't go on like this."

One approach, adopted by three Southern California cites, is to ban smoking completely  in outdoor public spaces.

A second, more common approach to outdoor smoking laws, known as the "listing," would ban smoking in seven main outdoor areas: dining areas, entryways, public events, recreation areas, service areas, sidewalks and work sites.

To date, 273 communities in California have passed laws prohibiting smoking in recreation areas such as parks and sports fields and 85 have banned smoking in outdoor dining areas.

The third policy area — smoking in multi-unit housing — was the most discussed Tuesday night. Current law allows Alameda residents to smoke inside and on the balconies of rental units and condos.

Smokefree housing policies have been adopted to varying degrees in 34 California communities, including Emeryville, Oakland and Dublin.

For condominiums, in which units are invidividually owned, the proposal presented by city staff would allow the city to declare secondhand smoke a "nuisance," making it easier for residents to seek civil action for secondhand smoke inhalation.

Many cities have not extended their smoking laws to include condos. But Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore said this should not hinder the city's plans.

"Just because other cities haven't done it, doesn't mean we shouldn't do it," Gilmore said. 

New laws could also tighten laws governing the sale of tobacco. 

California has for decades has been a pioneer of anti-smoking legislation, implementing a slew of statewide initiatives to combat the documented harmful effects of smoking. And Alameda city council members were unanimous in their support of pursuing more strict regulations for Alameda.

"We should be as aggressive as possible," said Councilmember Beverly Johnson. "This is a public health issue, not a cosmetic issue. We need as many prohibitions as possible, especially in housing."

Mayor Gilmore suggested staff break up the new regulations and look at passing the first two (banning smoking in enclosed spaces and outdoors), which she described as "straightforward."

She asked that staff do more research on the last two policy areas (private residences and tobacco retail laws), due to the legal ramifications, and present their findings to the council further down the road.

With smokers making up 10 percent of Alameda residents, Councilmember Doug deHaan said the city has to factor their needs into decision-making.

"I don't know how they're going to get their fix," he said. "Where do those smokers go? You've got to figure out where that can happen."