Proposed Ban on Outdoor Smoking Ignites Debate

Should smoking be banned on outdoor patios and open air spaces in West Hollywood restaurants, bars and nightclubs?

That's the question facing the Outdoor Smoking Ordinance Task Force, which was created in December 2009 at the direction of then-Mayor Abbe Land to consider how such a prohibition might be deployed and enforced.

"There are ideas that there be separate smoking and non-smoking sections," said Steven Gallegos, principal consultant to the Public Health Policy Advocates group.

"There are ideas that certain hours be devoted to clean outdoor air or smoking prohibition and that prohibition is lifted after a certain hour," he said.

Almost 90 percent of the task force is composed of business owners who are in favor of a no smoking ordinance, according to Gallegos. He argues that local restaurants and bars would not be negatively affected by the ordinance.

But not all business owners in West Hollywood agree.

"We're going to fight it," said Christian Leibfried, owner of Fubar, a Santa Monica Boulevard restaurant and bar. "I think economically, for the businesses here, all of us would see a decrease in patronage because people would stay at home or go somewhere else where they could smoke."

The Outdoor Smoking Ordinance Task Force will be presenting a summary of their deliberations to the city council  in early September.