A San Francisco suburb on Monday banned smoking in duplexes, condominiums and other multi-family homes, with city leaders saying they hoped to lead a wave of such regulations across California and ultimately the country. The City Council in San Rafael, a community of 57,000 people about 15 miles (24 km) north of San Francisco, voted unanimously for the ban, following a handful of other California municipalities that have outlawed smoking in buildings with as few as two units.
"We are happy to blaze a trail," Mayor Gary Phillips said before the vote. "We're most happy to be in the forefront of the issue because we think it will greatly benefit our residents and those visiting San Rafael, and we think it will set the tone for other cities as well." Tobacco-control experts predicted that the tough smoking ordinance in San Rafael could touch off a larger movement in other states and cities. "The San Rafael ban is a very significant event because it will spread," said Robert Proctor, a Stanford University history of science professor.
"We're on the downslope of a big curve. Smoking peaked in 1981 with 630 billion cigarettes sold in the United States. Now it's down to 350 billion. And that number will keep on going down until smoking is a distant memory." San Rafael is the state's ninth municipality to completely restrict smoking in multi-unit housing, said Pam Granger, advocacy manager for the American Lung Association in California. Granger said California was the only state where local jurisdictions have banned smoking in homes. The ordinance has generally been supported by residents who have spoken at city council meetings, although two smokers came out to oppose the ban on Monday evening.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий