Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
San Marcos' Smoke Signals
"Behavior modification takes time," said a San Marcos city employee during a November 11 city council meeting. The behavior they would like to modify is to prevent smokers from lighting up in nondesignated areas and flicking their butts in city parks. In 2008, San Marcos city councilmembers tried to do just that when they approved an ordinance banning smoking on park trails as well as establishing designated areas where smokers could spark up.
So far, local health organizations and some councilmembers say the ordinance has been a success. Proof of that success took place at Woodland Park one Saturday afternoon in August. That day, volunteers searched the park for cigarette butts, finding a total of 74 butts tossed in planters, on sidewalks, parking lots, and on the grassy hills. A small number considering a similar event two years earlier, when volunteers collected 926 butts at the same location.
And while some claim the decrease is proof the ordinance is working, councilmember Chris Orlando isn't convinced. Orlando believes modifying the behavior is taking too much time. Instead of focusing on modifying the behavior, Orlando would like to modify the ordinance by removing the designated areas and turning the entire park, as well as a hundred-foot area surrounding it, into a smoke-free zone.
"I think the ban should be no smoking in parks," said Orlando after staff's presentation. "And while the butts are in the planters and in the parking lots, that's not...it's just not fair to me."
It's not just the fact that Orlando wants to outlaw smoking in city parks; he also wants the designated smoking area signs removed from sight. "These smoking areas are a blight on our parks, these signs, on that beautiful vista is a blight on the park. I think these smoking areas, they just ruin the whole nature of the park scenery and the park experience."
Former smoker and vice mayor Hal Martin didn't agree. "If they totally outlawed smoking, I would go hide behind a tree, I would hide behind a backstop, I would do whatever was necessary.... By saying no smoking, people are still going to smoke, you are just going to cause people to get creative."
Despite agreeing that designated smoking areas are needed, mayor Jim Desmond requested staff provide data from neighboring cities that decided for an all-out ban on smoking at city parks. After that data is collected, the city will compare the numbers as a way to see whether the designated areas deter smokers from flicking their butts on the ground.
Here's something you might be interested in.
San Marcos' Smoke Signals
San Marcos' Smoke Signals
"Behavior modification takes time," said a San Marcos city employee during a November 11 city council meeting. The behavior they would like to modify is to prevent smokers from lighting up in nondesignated areas and flicking their butts in city parks. In 2008, San Marcos city councilmembers tried to do just that when they approved an ordinance banning smoking on park trails as well as establishing designated areas where smokers could spark up.
So far, local health organizations and some councilmembers say the ordinance has been a success. Proof of that success took place at Woodland Park one Saturday afternoon in August. That day, volunteers searched the park for cigarette butts, finding a total of 74 butts tossed in planters, on sidewalks, parking lots, and on the grassy hills. A small number considering a similar event two years earlier, when volunteers collected 926 butts at the same location.
And while some claim the decrease is proof the ordinance is working, councilmember Chris Orlando isn't convinced. Orlando believes modifying the behavior is taking too much time. Instead of focusing on modifying the behavior, Orlando would like to modify the ordinance by removing the designated areas and turning the entire park, as well as a hundred-foot area surrounding it, into a smoke-free zone.
"I think the ban should be no smoking in parks," said Orlando after staff's presentation. "And while the butts are in the planters and in the parking lots, that's not...it's just not fair to me."
It's not just the fact that Orlando wants to outlaw smoking in city parks; he also wants the designated smoking area signs removed from sight. "These smoking areas are a blight on our parks, these signs, on that beautiful vista is a blight on the park. I think these smoking areas, they just ruin the whole nature of the park scenery and the park experience."
Former smoker and vice mayor Hal Martin didn't agree. "If they totally outlawed smoking, I would go hide behind a tree, I would hide behind a backstop, I would do whatever was necessary.... By saying no smoking, people are still going to smoke, you are just going to cause people to get creative."
Despite agreeing that designated smoking areas are needed, mayor Jim Desmond requested staff provide data from neighboring cities that decided for an all-out ban on smoking at city parks. After that data is collected, the city will compare the numbers as a way to see whether the designated areas deter smokers from flicking their butts on the ground.
Comments