Santa Monica Outlaws Smoking On Balconies

• I don't think "Socialist" means what you think it does...

• I have a cigar smoker who smokes cigars 2 to 4 times per day on his balcony in North Hollywood. As the resident manager I have asked him to stop.  The second hand cigars smoke billows into the lobby area, my apartment even with doors and windows closed, and other tenant apartments in the same building.  The postal mailboxes are located in the lobby.  Anyone who gets their mail or comes throught the front door must walk through and inhale involuntarily the second hand carcenogenic cigar smoke.  The tenant refuses to stop saying it is his protectected tenant right to smoke cigars on the balcony of the unit he rented even though he said he was a non smoker on his applicaton and when he signed the lease agreement.  He has threathened to sue for harassment if I continue to ask him to stop smoking the cigars on the balcony.  Other tenants in the building have complained about the second cigars smoke.  One tenant is disabled with emphysema.   I have written the LA  FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL and the LA HEALTH DEPT to see if there is any legal action or what as the resident manager I may pursue as far as eviction for continued violation of the "odor" clause of the standard Apartment Owners Associaton lease.  Clearly it is more than a matter of odor as the carcinogens in the second hand cigar smoke are in greater amounts than second hand smoke from one cigarette. When I hear back from the LA HEALTH DEPT and FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL I will post the results.  In the meantime any ideas from others for actions to pursue against the cigar smoke who insists it is his right to smoke cigars on the balcony and force others to inhale involuntarily his second hand cigar smoke  carrying carcinogens?  As the resident mgr am I obligated to post a warning of carcinogens at the front door to warn any pregnant women, children, disable with respiratory diseases of the dangers of the carcinogens that may be present as they enter through the front door or as tenants pick up their mail from the mailboxes in the lobby?   

• Your smoke travels far enough to where it creates a choking affect to those who don't smoke. It's like those loud music your neighbor plays that may annoy you when it sounds great to them.

• I live in west Los Angeles and the new tenant bellow me smokes cigarettes in his APT it comes through the floor and fill my APT up. My lungs do not take the second hand smoke well and I have a child living in the APT that has to breath this every day. REALLY SUCKS there is no LAW to prevent this. and Moving is not an otpion can't aford to.

• This is really a very severe non-smoking law. I understand when smoking is banned in public places like parks, but banning smoking on Balconies - this is not real. Horrible law

• This is really a very severe non-smoking law. I understand when smoking is banned in public places like parks, but banning smoking on Balconies - this is not real. Horrible law

• I am occasional smoker (2-3 cig./per day). I never smoke indoors but I found this law very discriminating. So, liberty in the states is just a statue!!! I agree with everybody who said about puritanism, hypocricism etc. I am sure that it will be a day that they will tell us even what we should do into our bedrooms!!!

• Sure everyone should have a right to smoke. Just as the person whose window their smoke drifts into has a right not to. You (probably) wouldn't cram your favorite food down someone's throat - regardless of whether it is healthy or not - if you have a choice why doesn't it follow that everyone around you has a choice as well?

• That commenter, Shelly sounds completely paranoid and crazy. How much time does she spend watching her neighbors habits?? You need to deal better with your environment and stop snooping and OBSESSING over your neighbors. Sounds like you are a busy body OCD. Junican has it right. And Shelly found an easy target making her neighbors miserable. She can move. Its still a free country, girl.

• All of Shelly's statements don't really justify the smoking bans. The only argument is second-hand smoke. And, the data is inconclusive. I guess all trans fats should go next because of heart disease?? What about the EXHAUST. I am a scientist and know it is far far worse!! Even knowing the risks giving up one thing to government control is NOT WORTH IT. This is not drunk driving or chemical waste dumping. GET REAL

• So its not healthy to smoke. One still has the right to. The same complainers drive gas guzzling SUV's and barbecue smelly fish or steak. Being a vegetarian, it smells awful. The reports on second-hand smoke are flawed and not conclusive. People die from lung cancer, not smoking or exposed to second-hand smoke. Face it, smoking is unpopular. Rather than give up their car, most would demonize an occasional cigarette. Rob Reiner started all of this diversion from bigger issues to run for governor some time ago. The more protection we falsely think we need ultimately leads to more government control and erosion of our inherent civil liberties. Thinking as I choke from the exhaust fumes from CARS on 26th street in Santa Monica

• per the National Cancer Institute: Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and diminishes a person�s overall health. Smoking is a leading cause of cancer and of death from cancer. It causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia (1). Smoking also causes heart disease, stroke, lung disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema), hip fractures, and cataracts. Smokers are at higher risk of developing pneumonia and other airway infections (1). A pregnant smoker is at higher risk of having her baby born too early and with an abnormally low weight. A woman who smokes during or after pregnancy increases her infant�s risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (1). Millions of Americans have health problems caused by smoking. Cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke cause an estimated average of 438,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. Of these premature deaths, about 40 percent are from cancer, 35 percent are from heart disease and stroke, and 25 percent are from lung disease (2). Smoking is the leading cause of premature, preventable death in this country. Tobacco smoke contains chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers. Breathing even a little tobacco smoke can be harmful. Of the 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful . The toxic chemicals found in smoke include hydrogen cyanide (used in chemical weapons), carbon monoxide (found in car exhaust), formaldehyde (used as an embalming fluid), ammonia (used in household cleaners), and toluene (found in paint thinners). Of the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, more than 50 have been found to cause cancer. These chemicals include: * arsenic (a heavy metal toxin) * benzene (a chemical found in gasoline) * beryllium (a toxic metal) * cadmium (a metal used in batteries) * chromium (a metallic element) * ethylene oxide (a chemical used to sterilize medical devices) * nickel (a metallic element) * polonium-210 (a chemical element that gives off radiation) * vinyl chloride (a toxic substance used in plastics manufacture) This is a highly toxic substance and should not be used by any individual, much less inflicted onto innocent others!! Smokers may not think that their 'little cigarettes' do much harm, but reality tells a different story!! It's a toxic addiction and nobody else should have to be affected by it!! Nobody!!

• Second-hand smoke in my apartment complex has made my apartment unlivable. I support this law 100% and a hope the rest of So Cal cities follow suit with their own. The neighbors that live directly below me chain-smoke all day and all night!! They Never leave!! They're up all night and don't sleep more than an hour or two at the most!! They light up a new cigarette every 10 minutes. The smoke leaves through their windows and rises up through my apartment windows. If my windows are closed, the toxins (some scentless) seep through pipes and vents. After every night I spend here, I wake up feeling like I've smoked 3 packs of cigarettes or been immersed in the garbage! Lately I've been spending nights at friends' homes because the effect on my lungs is too great. I've contacted my neighbors and asked them to smoke outside -- they refuse and I have no recourse. If anything, it's gotten way worse and I believe they are trying to 'smoke me out' of my apt!! I'm attempting to get a restraining order as this is a nightmare on my health and that of my animals!! No One should have to live like this!! It is My Right to Breathe Oxygen!! It is Not your Right to Deprive me of It!!! PLEASE pass a similar law in Los Angeles and the rest of LA-area cities. PS: for those of you who are mentally challenged and in Denial so far you'll never see daylight as to think that cigarette smoking is harmless, please check out the American Cancer Society website and the large billboard off of Wilshire, I believe, that chalks up the number of Deaths this year!! due to the wonderful effects of Smoking!! I believe we're over 400,000 so far!! hey, good luck w/that tho!!!

• From England. We have our 'jimmis' (13th 6.19) too. We call them the "flog 'em and 'ang 'em" brigade. But even Judge Jeffreys only hung people for stealing sheep. He didn't hang people for farting (hydrogen sulphide! Ugh!) I would love to know from jimmi how he came to accept all the anti-smoking propaganda as truth. He would be a credit to Hitler, Stalin, Mao-si-Tung and Saddam. Are your local councillors similar? It seems to be so. It is very weird how ostensibly intelligent people seems to lose all sense of reality when they see an easy target to persecute, isn't it? There is no short term answer. Unfortunately, the persecution has to be allowed to run its course. One or two martyrs will suffer until, eventually, some respected scientist stands up and say, "Now, tell me again what the proof was that tobacco smoke is harmful?"

• First of all i would like to say "thanks god i do not live in S.Monica" and generally in U.S. with this undemocratic laws. Second i would like to ask to all the smokers...why you do not break the law in a smarter way???? Laws are made to break them!!! I always break the law about smoking even in non smoking airports for instance...nobody has never noticed it if you find the right spot....basically all the rules can be broken if you find the right spot...

• Then again I obviously don't have the cognitive skills necessary to form an education opinion. I'm probably way off. Don't be like me. Go to college kids.

• Smokers are invariably ignorant which is why it's necessary for the law to step in and protect the rest of us. Smoking absolutely should be illegal in public places (bus stops, restaurants, parks) and apt balconies too.

• Hello all, a friend of mine who is a lawyer in your lovely country tells me that in fact you can shout fire in a crowded theatre, with the proviso that there is in fact a fire. Best Wishes John Gibson

• Let's not forget nicotine is classified as a DRUG. Drug takers need to be shunned. Especially when they force their poisons on others. The fine should be $10,000 per incident, with six months in jail. That ought to stop smokers from attacking nonsmokers.

• I picked up a Parker bow and it simply has been super.

• The current anti-smoking lobby are no better than the people who burnt women for witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Full of evangelical fervour, totally lacking in human decency and very short on rationality. The anti-smoking lobby have set science and rationality back by over 5000 years. They are quite simply evil.

• My my, look how many Hitlers there are in Santa Monica! Those of you so "Proud" to be anti-smokers need to look up the history of anti-smoking. You are absolutly NO BETTER than Hitler himself. Yes, you should be very proud Nazis - not.

• Further to my previous post, I have two further comments: I could well understand the possibility that a person smoking on a balcony could flick a lit fag end over the edge of the balcony and that the lit fag end could ignite a fire in a balcony below. It may be that this is the real reason for the balcony smoking ban. It may be that there are insurance issues, for example. If that is the case, then why don't the councillors just say so? At least, the legislation then makes some sense. Also, is it not true that when residents fall out, it would be a wonderful opportunity for disgruntled and vengeful residents to report that their neighbours have been smoking? What is to stop them? Is there a law in place to fine people for making false reports? And, in any case, how could proof of smoking be obtained, or indeed, how could proof of <i>not</i> smoking, in the case of a malicious report, be obtained? In the case of proof of smoking, only surreptitious filming of private activities would suffice. Is that what the citizens of Santa Monica want? Such filming could reveal all sorts of naughtiness - much of which could be not in the interests of the zealot babies.

• An English point of view... From the day that we are born until the day that we die, life is about problem solving. Babies solve the problem of being fed by crying, but we must note that someone else actual solves the problem for them. Adults solve problems by taking action themselves. It seems to me to be true that there is a class of people who are still babies - they see a problem and cry. They want someone else to solve the problem for them. I would put the whingers about tobacco smoke wafting onto their pure air balconies into this category. They cry. What is horrible about this situation is that the grown ups in the local authority do not say to these babies, "Ah Didums. Here's a dummy (comforter). Have a little suck on it for a while. Mummy has to go to work" The most stringent anti-smoking laws are in California. What do we notice about California? The state is bankrupt - that is what we notice. California is one of the most wealthy states in the union, but it is bankrupt. Why? May I suggest that it is because the government is spending too much time dealing with babies? As an external observer, it seems to me to be true that the Santa Monica local authorities are avoiding grown up problems and spending their time on babies' problems. The citizens of Santa Monica should see this, even if they detest smoking. They should be asking why their Representatives are wasting time on babies' problems.

• It's astounding. It amazes me to no end, the crap and disrespect, that taxpaying citizens will accept. Southern California is the most polluted place in the entire United States of America, and it isn't because of cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke. Millions of illegal aliens are driving around on the roads, adding to the pollution that cars create, and yet the socialists in Santa Monica and other cities aren't aware, or bothered by it at all. Paint shops, businesses of all kinds, that pollute the hell out of the air, that also employ illegal labor are all fine with the sick socialist mentality. But woe, woe unto that American citizen that steps out for a smoke on his/her own property with a puny cigarette or cigar. Shazam!! what a crime!! What will you folks allow socialist buffons to do next, decide when you can use the bathroom, or punishing farting with a severe fine. All the while, youv'e got thousands upon thousands of gang members, killing not only citizens, but foreign travel that creates wealth in Santa Monica and elsewhere. Think about what the priorities in life should be, for a change, instead of having your asses so far up your %^**^, that it's plain crazy.

• America - Land of the Free (not)

• What all this anti-smoking bs comes down is that there a large streak in US society that simply *hates* to see people having fun. It's the old Puritan tradition. We have seen this many times in history: the USA was the only non-muslim country ever to criminalise alcohol (a complete disaster of course); Andrea Dworkin and her co-thinkers would have banned sex if they could; and now smokers are the target. Of course these Puritans can't admit that they are simply anti-fun so excuses must be invented, Who was ever harmed in the slightest by someone smoking next to them at an open-air bus-stop? Obviously no-one. These demented Healthists have long since given up even pretending to be rational as is clear to all. Still we smokers are voters and spenders too. If Santa Monica doesn't want our money will we simply go elsewhere. There are still many states in the USA where one may still smoke in some of the bars at least. The Carolinas for example. We must take the long view. Prohibition was hailed as success to begin with. When all these daft non-smoking regulations have zero effect on people's health the hysteria will cease. It may interest smokers to know that in Ireland since the smoking ban the % of the population who smoke has *risen* from 26% to 29%. That's official Irish Department of Health statistics.

• I think that it's great! I guess you can tell I am a non smoker and proud of it!

• There are lots of things in this world that we "shouldn't have to put up with" including poverty, hunger, homelessness, pollution from cars and factories, chemicals in our food, bigotry, and hatred. Talk to your neighbor - maybe you can close your window for 10 minutes nightly , and they'll reciprocate with something you like.

• This is a tricky one. As much as I want people to have a right to smoke whatever they want, I think it's important that they are considerate about where they do it. As far as the specifics of this law, it seems to be a bit over the top. However, I don't think cops are gonna go around actively enforcing this. The only time I see this law ever being an issue is when someone complains about a neighbor. In 99 out of 100 cases, it should be handled civilly, and with no incident, but in that 1 case, when the smoker responds to being asked nicely to stop with, "F*** you, this is my porch and I'll blow smoke in your windows all night!" The negatively impacted resident will have the law on their side.

• Can anybody not believe this is going a little over the line? I would suggest to those under this restriction try an electronic cigarette but I'm sure they would soon be banned also.

• This is just Bull Sh&T...I don't smoke and i do not care for the smell. But this is just crazy. I can not as an AMERICAN SUPPORT THIS.

• <i>...who the hell wants to live in a hole like santa monica anyway?</i> I do. I've lived here for over 25 years. I can see you've never been here, Taz. The ocean air is clean and cool and the ocean breeze keeps the pollution away. Please stay in your wonderful NYC. Jackass.

• OK, 2nd hand smoke is bad for you. cigg. smoke stinks. we pass laws saying where people can and cannot smoke, fine. Kicker, exhaust from internal combustion engine is bad for you, proven beyond a doubt, now lets pass some laws.. comments?? thank you Curtis

• OK, 2nd hand smoke is bad for you. cigg. smoke stinks. we pass laws saying where people can and cannot smoke, fine. Kicker, exhaust from internal combustion engins is bad for you, proven beyond a doubt, now lets pass some laws.. comments?? thank you Curtis

• Yo I smoke all natural tobacco and I use a tar buster to remove quite a bit of the tar. Its hard to say good things about cigarettes so let me digress. It is time to start taxing fat Americans for every thing they do. 1 Fat Drivers use more energy 2 Fat passengers kill the planet 3 Fat Flyers should pay by the pound 4 Fat Heads killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people around the world United Smoking Mirrors of America Ban fat people in Santa Monica not smoking. Polluting idiotic hypocrisy at its best.

• 54% of americans of 100 years of age or older smoke. 82% of japanese smoke yet have 1/3 the US rate of lung cancer and half the early heart attacks. according to the EPA, breathing the air in the average american metro area is the carcinogenic equivalent of smoking 18 cigs a day. and meats are killing us faster than cigs, at any rate. so where are the gory warnings on city limit signs and packages of meat? and ben frankllin can't smoke his pipe in a bar in the land of the free? here in NYC, when we got our last lease, there was a provision in it that we shall not smoke anything in our own home. is this more like stalin or hitler? who the hell wants to live in a hole like santa monica anyway?

• Cars STINK. Stop driving near me. All of these laws are crazy and scary. Soon we're going to be wondering if breathing air in certain areas is permitted.

• I don't like the smell of your bbq and the smoke from the charcoal fire you're using to cook it is hurting my lungs. I DEMAND A LAW OUTLAWING THESE HORRENDOUS ACTIVITIES!!!!!!

• Second-hand smoke in my apartment complex has made my apartment unlivable. And I'm an occasional smoker. I support this law 100% and a hope the rest of So Cal cities follow suit with their own. The neighbors that live directly below me chain-smoke all day, and they don't leave unless they are at work. There are two people living there -- a mother and son -- and I believe only the son works. They light up a new cigarette every 10 minutes. The smoke leaves through their windows and rises up through my apartment windows. If my windows are closed, the toxins (some scentless) seep through pipes and vents. After every night I spend here (I've been here about a month) I wake up feeling like I've smoked 3 packs of cigarettes or been in the area of a wildfire. Lately I've been spending nights at friends' homes because the effect on my lungs is too great. I've contacted my neighbors and asked them to smoke outside -- they refuse and I have no recourse. PLEASE pass a similar law in Los Angeles and the rest of LA-area cities. When I smoke I walk to the sidewalk and other smokers should do the same -- by government force if necessary.

• First they came for the smokers and I did nothing because I didn't smoke. Wait 'til they come for your BBQs.

• What I see from a lot of people who agree with this ordinance is the feeling that they should not have to breathe in the smoke from others' balconies. This thought is fine. Nothing is stopping you from having a chat with some of the smokers in other apartments, or the landlord. This ordinance goes way too far when it criminalizes smoking on apartment balconies for everybody. What was an occasional nuisance to some people and an enjoyable activity to some people has now become law. Citizens of Santa Monica, I do believe you may have lost your balls. Currently, I don't mind the occasional cigarette smoke wafting into my window, which it sometimes does. However, if I did not like it, I'd simply peek out my window, look down, and see where it was coming from. I'd then have a chat with the other renter. The smoker would have to be directly below me, because smoke concentration from anywhere else than that place is so negligible that it boggles the mind how it could bother ANYBODY, especially considering how many other forms of air pollution we allow in our society. We pride ourselves in that we live in a "free" society. This means that laws on the books are fair, honest, straightforward, and as few as possible. More legislation does not always equal a better society, and it often makes things complicated and worse. In this case, we should always be careful whenever we limit somebody's right to do something. In the end, don't leave your life to the state to decide. Remember that you are a human being capable of solving your own problems, and that you don't need some entity to take away everyone else's right to smoke just because you're a shy, health-conscious shut-in who doesn't like talking to his neighbors.

• really? no smoking at a bus stop? has anyone ever seen the amount of toxins released by a bus?

• I have never smoked a cigarette in my life but this law makes me want to smoke a few just to annoy the people who wrote the law. As we all know the smog from motor vehicles is far worse that cigarette smoke from a balcony. But don't expect there to be any incentives to stop us from driving....

• As a smoker, I have every right to blow smoke in your face as much as I want, as this does not impede on your freedom. Being comfortable and not smelling things you don't like is not a right. Therefore, you anti-smoking people need to shut up and stop destroying my rights. This is the kind of thing that is destroying this country.

• &#64;todd: "Civil liberties" do not necessarily extend to things that impact others. Just like the 1st amendment doesn't allow you to yell "Fire!" in a movie theater, individual rights do not mandate that a non-smoker needs to breathe in someone else's cigarette. Are you familiar with the term "clear and present danger"�its disputable whether or not second-hand smoke would fall under this. Also, it's Santa Monica�it's not like the outside air quality there is very good to begin with� it has an only 32.1% days out of a year have an AQI of good or better

• My Dad has been a post surgery nurse for well over a decade and has only seen a handful of non-smokers with lung cancer. All of them were exposed to heavy amounts of second hand smoke for very long periods of time. Almost all were spouses of smokers and huffed that crap for 30 or 40 years. I doubt a draft pulling in a whisp of smoke will make any difference. @Sassan - I'm a vegetarian and don't like the way meat smells, and I don't want to have to put up with that either! Should we illegalize meat? How about BO, mandatory showers and tickets for those that have too much?

• I don't like the sound of construction. Let's ban that too.

• The People's Republic of Santa Monica strikes again. /nonsmoker.

• I'm sure the smog that everyone is breathing in Santa Monica is so much healthier than a little second hand cigarette smoke. Where's the outrage there?? Why doesn't Santa Monica just ban driving? Is there an ordinace against BBQing too? Maybe because everyone drives but not everyone smokes, and people have less tolerance for annoying habits that they themselves don't partake in. I don't even smoke but I see this is ridiculous.

• I guess pretty soon I won't be able to cook garlic or onions in an apartment? A lot of people don't like the smell of those things, how long before they're all "Let's pass a law! Down with garlic!" (Seriously, get a petition. I want a list of people who don't like garlic so I can stay away from them.)

• Might want to ban bonfires, gasoline powered vehicles, and farting while we're at it. Nobody likes inhaling that stuff either...

• Haha. Exactly. My farts stink as well. Will it soon be illegal to pass gas on my porch?

• Instead of arguing about slowly eroding civil liberties and whether government has a place in mitigating an unnecessary, and potentially dangerous, harm to citizens who wish to avoid it, we should just try to work together to eliminate the problem. Non-smokers: If someone is smoking near you and it is bothering you, politely ask them if they could please move. As a smoker, I am very self conscious about where my smoke goes because I also don't like smoke in my face, clothes, or eyes. Please, if I am bothering you, just ask me to move. Most people are actually reasonable human beings, just with different perspectives. They may not realize they are making you uncomfortable. Smokers: Don't be a jerk. Don't smoke near open windows, people at bus stops, or on a very busy sidewalk. Always stand downwind. If someone asks you to move, and you can reasonably do so, just move. Even if you don't agree about the degree to which the smoke was bothersome. If moving is unreasonable, work out a compromise. Some of us will have differing opinions about how to define 'reasonable' in various situations but at least we will be talking to each other instead of bickering like a bunch middle school girls over who Big Brother likes more.

• I hate the smell from the exhaust of your freaking cars so I am going to sponsor legislation to make sure you can't drive within 50 feet of my home. car exhaust can kill you in a matter of minutes not decades like cigarette smoke. you car drivers DISGUST me. get out of my town. my rights are more important than yours. effing nanny state imbeciles.

• Get off my lawn!

• Response to those suggesting that second-hand smoke isn't actually dangerous, you are missing the point: cigarette smoke STINKS and nobody should have to smell it just because you want to light up. It's not really about you negatively impacting my health in any way, it's that your smoking bothers me and I shouldn't have to put up with it.

• Response to those suggesting that second-hand smoke isn't actually dangerous, you are missing the point: cigarette smoke STINKS and nobody should have to smell it just because you want to light up. It's not really about you negatively impacting my health in any way, it's that your smoking bothers me and I shouldn't have to put up with it.

• &#64; Brittney - You are second-class citizens. If you don't like it, move. I don't want you here anyway.

• Val, close your windows next time. You could also just simply do the neighborly thing and ask them to not smoke near your window because of your asthma.

• <quote>todd says: "Civil liberties" do not necessarily extend to things that impact others. Just like the 1st amendment doesn't allow you to yell "Fire!" in a movie theater, </quote> Actually, you are mistaken. The 1A covers a person's freedom to yell FIRE in a theatre. However, it doesn't protect the person from lawsuits and arrests following a stampede where people are injured or killed because of aforementioned yelling.

• If you rent, it isn't YOUR property anyway. I have asthma and I am glad about this. My whole building is non smoking but the building that share a walkway with ours isn't. There are smokers less then 15 feet away from my windows. If they want to pollute their body that's fine...but they should not impact my health with it.

• The ACLU is going to tear this law down. They tried to do this in a town near Philly. A judge knocked it over. It won't stick. You can't outlaw people from doing something on their property that's Federally legal and taxed by the government.

• This sucks. I can understand non-smokers not wanting to inhale smoke while they're eating or waiting for a bus, but this?! If I want to have a cigarette on MY porch far away from YOU, then I don't see the problem with that. My smoke is not negatively impacting you in any way. This is just another way for smokers to become a second-class citizen. What BS.

• LOL, yeah right. Who is gonna stop me? too funny. Lou www.anon-vpn.us.tc

• If, in November the legalization of Marihuana passes, where are the resident's of Santa Monica going to toke up.

• I'm slowly starting to feel like there are so many laws these days you can't do anything without thinking twice. Doesn't anybody here think our laws in the states are getting a little excessive? -

• That's funny. So that means you can't smoke in your studio apartment that costs over $1500 a month with no parking

• That's funny. So that means you can't smoke in your studio apartment that costs over $1500 a month with no parking

• This is so wonderful, it's beyond words! Now I just hope the "enforcement" part will follow through, and not let the valuable efforts of those that finally got this done become an empty one. It's no good if it is only on paper and not enforced with diligence.

• "Civil liberties" do not necessarily extend to things that impact others. Just like the 1st amendment doesn't allow you to yell "Fire!" in a movie theater, individual rights do not mandate that a non-smoker needs to breathe in someone else's cigarette. The "benefits" from first-hand smoke are well documented. Why should others be subjected to any risk (not to mention the foul smell) from second-hand? If you have to feed your addiction, please feel free to sit in your home and do so. But I don't really think that I should have to enjoy your smoke wafting up from your balcony below my windows. There is no slippery slope here. You can enjoy your habit anywhere that it doesn't impact others.

• Yeah, you sure got that right. 20% of Americans are not welcome in Santa Monica by the city council. If you're a native- tough, you're banned from everywhere and now they're coming after you in your own home. Oh, that's right if you rent I guess it's not really you're home... elitist morans.

• 100% agree khw. Science does not matter any more. Only who has more money (and there are many groups now who far outspend the tobacco companies, who have all but given up lobbying on the local level). Facts? Who needs them. Same with politics today. Sad, really.

• What is really astounding to me is the common acceptance of the danger of second hand smoke. Even the EPA has admitted it issued it's findings on data that was seriously flawed and without scientific merit. As someone concerned about the reports on second-hand smoke, I did the research myself and was shocked. There simply is no basis for this and laws like it. This is nothing more than concerted effort to erode our civil liberties. Regardless of whether or not we like smoke, we do not have the right to legislate an entire cross-section of our population into second-class status.

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