The Long Beach City Council voted last night to ban smoking in all city parks.
Smoking has already been banned at city beaches, but the new rule extends to parks, gardens, picnic areas, playgrounds,
bike paths, walking paths, hiking trails and sports or playing fields.
The council vote was unanimous.
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First-time violators face a $100 fine, second-timers within a year of the first infraction can be $200 lighter in the wallet and each subsequent violation within a year can fetch $500 fines.
Lighting up on municipal golf courses or by film crews are exempt under the ban because the city fears lost revenues.
Besides, there is little chance of smoke getting in the eyes of children on golf courses or movie sets.
It's all about the children.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.