California has long been at the forefront of the fight against smoking, but some local officials in the San Francisco Bay Area, backed by activists who are especially concerned about high rates of smoking in the LGBTQ+ community, are spearheading proposals to further restrict how tobacco is sold and where it is smoked.
In the city of Vallejo on the northeastern edge of San Pablo Bay, Council member Peter Bregenzer is leading an effort to crack down on smoke shops, which he says make it much too easy for children to smoke and vape. In Oakland, Council member Dan Kalb is weighing a new ordinance that would extend smoking bans to all apartment and condominium buildings, as well as bar patios.
The advocacy group LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, following a successful push in nearby Concord, is among the backers of the Vallejo ordinance, and is also pushing for San Francisco and Oakland to ban outdoor smoking at bars.
Joseph Hayden, a Vallejo resident and a volunteer with LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, said the time is right for the city to act.
“Some people have told me they’d ban it all — tobacco sales — if they could, like Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills,” said Hayden, who is also a volunteer with Tobacco Free Solano. “We want to be sure this [ordinance] has teeth.”
Christina Lee, a spokespe …
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California has long been at the forefront of the fight against smoking, but some local officials in the San Francisco Bay Area, backed by activists who are especially concerned about high rates of smoking in the LGBTQ+ community, are spearheading proposals to further restrict how tobacco is sold and where it is smoked.
In the city of Vallejo on the northeastern edge of San Pablo Bay, Council member Peter Bregenzer is leading an effort to crack down on smoke shops, which he says make it much too easy for children to smoke and vape. In Oakland, Council member Dan Kalb is weighing a new ordinance that would extend smoking bans to all apartment and condominium buildings, as well as bar patios.
The advocacy group LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, following a successful push in nearby Concord, is among the backers of the Vallejo ordinance, and is also pushing for San Francisco and Oakland to ban outdoor smoking at bars.
Joseph Hayden, a Vallejo resident and a volunteer with LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, said the time is right for the city to act.
“Some people have told me they’d ban it all — tobacco sales — if they could, like Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills,” said Hayden, who is also a volunteer with Tobacco Free Solano. “We want to be sure this [ordinance] has teeth.”
Christina Lee, a spokespe …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]