Tonya and PQBON's WebLog
The cities of Santa Cruz, Carmel, Monterey and scores of towns in Southern California have passed similar bans on beaches, but to the delight of environmentalists -- and the dismay of some salty fishermen -- Pacifica is believed to be the first in the Bay Area to be heading toward a total waterfront ban on cigarettes.
Pacifica resident Susan Danielson says she hopes her hometown will be the first of many in the Bay Area to adopt a smoking ban on the water's edge and start people thinking about sandy beaches as a precious resource, not giant ashtrays.
"I think we are going to see this as the norm and the standard for our beaches,'' said Danielson, who spearheaded the effort for Pacifica's ban and is hoping officials in San Mateo County, and ultimately the state, will follow with their own law prohibiting smoking at more than a dozen other beaches.
Danielson, who led San Mateo County's annual coastal cleanup for the past two years, says that since she began cleaning beaches five years ago, she and other volunteers have picked up thousands of butts from the sand.
One of things I hate most about most smokers is there complete disregard for anyone but themselves. It starts with the fact that they smoke in locations that cause others to have to experience there smoking and it extends to the fact that most smokers think nothing at all of littering there cigarette butts and ash anywhere they choose.