Tobacco Facts.

LONG BEACH - You can kick a ball, run, play and picnic, but don’t light up in Long Beach’s parks.

The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to ban smoking in all city parks and other outdoor areas, including picnic areas, playgrounds, sports or playing fields, walking paths, gardens, hiking trails, and bike paths. Smoking was already illegal on city beaches.

The ordinance, which had been recommended by the Parks and Recreation Commission, exempts golf courses because of potential revenue loss and because smoking on courses isn’t considered likely to affect children or crowds. The law also allows exemptions for activities such as filming or special events.

Violating the ordinance would be an infraction, not a misdemeanor or felony. Violators would face a $100 fine the first time, a $200 fine for a second violation within one year, and a $500 fine for all subsequent violations within one year of a previous offense.

A crowd of more than 30 people showed up at City Hall to support the smoking ban, including activists, parents and children.

“As city leaders, I’m asking you to please take the lead and help our citizens, all of our citizens, lead healthier lives,” said Claudette Powers of the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Long Beach.

However, there were a few voices of dissent in the audience and on the council, notably from Councilman James Johnson. While he said that he supported the smoking ban, and he eventually voted for it, he first proposed requiring that smoking tickets could only be given in parks that have signs.

The ordinance doesn’t require signs, which Johnson said was unjust to smokers.

“If they’re in a park and they don’t know about this law, and they get a ticket, is this fair,” Johnson said.

Councilwoman Rae Gabelich joined with Johnson to vote for this change to the law, but the rest of the council voted against it.

Director of Health and Human Services Ron Arias said that temporary signs will be put up - permanent signs would cost more than $30,000, officials said - and that the city will conduct “a very intense education campaign” for the smoking law.

Long Beach resident Steve Baker said he was against the ban entirely and that it at least should be reworked.

“Even if a person’s smoking and there’s no children in that area, is that person still going to be fined,” Baker asked. “There should be some common sense put into this wording.”

However, speakers such as 12-year-old Elizabeth Alvarado, a Hughes Middle School student, recounted how their park experience has been negatively affected by smokers.

“There isn’t a single time that I go that I don’t see a person smoking, and I inhale it,” she said.

Truck yard permits

In other business Tuesday, the council approved an ordinance requiring new truck yards in Long Beach to get a permit and meet special property standards.

The law is designed to protect residential areas from the impacts of truck facilities by requiring landscaping buffers between the yards and surrounding streets, decorative walls between the facilities and residential neighborhoods, lighting, restrooms for employees and guests, and other measures.

The ordinance will affect truck yards in the city’s general industrial areas, which are largely in Long Beach’s western and northern areas. With the Port of Long Beach, one of the nation’s busiest, in the city’s southwestern corner, pollution, noise and other effects have long been chief among the concerns of nearby neighborhoods.

Gabelich said that while she understands that truck yards are businesses, “there’s a responsibility that goes along with that, and how it impacts the community is significant.”

All of the new provisions will be part of a conditional use permit that new truck yards will have to get. It was a question of whether to require the permit or just enact new guidelines that led to a somewhat divided council.

Council members Gary DeLong and Dee Andrews were the sole votes in support of a Planning Commission recommendation to create the standards without requiring a conditional use permit. The rest of the council followed city management’s proposal requiring the permit, though they were then joined by DeLong in an 8-1 vote, with Andrews dissenting.

Requiring a conditional use permit would allow the city to force a business to close if it doesn’t meet the permit requirements, said Amy Bodek, director of Development Services. Without such a permit, the city’s only recourse would likely be to take legal action against a violator, Bodek said.

However, Planning Commission Chairman Charles Durnin explained that the majority of the commission feared that requiring a permit would be too onerous for truck businesses, especially small ones, because permits can cost thousands of dollars.

That led Councilman Patrick O’Donnell to ask the council to also support taking a look at a possible sliding scale of fees so that smaller truck yards wouldn’t have to pay as much. The council supported the proposal, but the details remain to be worked out.

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