In an effort to curtail youth smoking, the city council looks to further
restrict the sales of tobacco. (Creative Commons)

In an effort to keep tobacco out of the the hands of adolescents, the Los Angeles City Council is expected to request Wednesday that the city attorney begin drafting an ordinance that prohibits the sale of tobacco within 1,000 feet of schools.

"Students travel past convenience stores on their way to school everyday, and we need to put more condition on stores that sell cigarettes," said councilman Bernard Parks, who introduced the measure.

The city's Planning and Land Use Management Committee passed the motion onto the city council last Tuesday--councilmen Ed Reyes and Paul Krekorian both voted yes, while the third committee member, councilman Jose Huizar, was absent.

If the council passes the motion, the city planning department and the city attorney would work to create an ordinance that would prohibit sales of tobacco products within 600 feet to 1,000 feet of schools. Existing tobacco retailers in the restricted zone would be grandfathered in, but would face tougher penalties if caught selling tobacco to minors, including losing their license for three violations.

The final provision of the motion asks for tobacco sales to be prohibited when students are walking to and from school as well as during school hours.

The rule would echo a similar measure passed by the city council last week that restricts medical marijuana dispensaries from operating within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and libraries.

Parks said undercover sting operations done by the police department to make sure that retailers are not illegally selling tobacco and alcohol to minors have highlighted problems with current regulations. Last fall, the city attorney's office suspended the tobacco retail licenses of 24 stores, most of which were located near schools.

In an undercover survey of 40 retailers in San Gabriel by Day One, a Pasadena-based youth advocacy group, 13 retailers were willing to sell cigarettes to children between the ages of 15 and 16. Of those, 12 retailers were within 1,000 feet of a school.

"The earlier the age of initiation, the harder it is to quit," Day One's Director of Community Programs Wesley Reutimann said.

In a letter to the city, supporting the ordinance, state senator and former L.A. city councilman Alex Padilla (D-20th) said annually 27,000 children in California try smoking and go on to become life-long smokers. In his letter, Padilla also cites a 2004 study by the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program that found that a third of tobacco sales to minors occur within 1,000 feet of schools.

Padilla introduced a measure in the state senate to prohibit tobacco sales near schools, but his measure was discarded in the Senate Appropriations Committee. As a result, he sent a letter to every local government body in California urging them to pass local regulations. Other than Los Angeles, 12 other cities are considering proposing similar ordinances, including the City of Hemet, according to a spokesperson for Padilla.

Paul Knepprath, the Vice President of Government Relations for the American Lung Association of California, said if the ordinance does eventually pass the city would continue to receive high marks from the ALA for controlling the sale of tobacco.

"It's a great thing to reduce the negative impact of tobacco on youth," he said.

However, the city's tobacco policies received an overall "C" grade from the ALA last week. Knepprath said Los Angeles needs more restrictions on smoking in multi-unit family housing complexes.

Another motion from councilman Parks has sat in the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee since August 2008 that calls for regulating cigarette smoking by "limiting it to certain places where there is no expectation of involuntary contact with people." But, the motion does not specifically call for making more smoke-free multi-unit housing available.

Last Wednesday the city council sent an ordinance that would prohibit somking insoide and within 10 feet of outdoor  dining areas to the mayor for his signature.

Locations where smoking is banned

Government buildings

Parks

Beaches

Inside Restaurants and Bars

Within 25 feet of playgrounds, bleachers, sports fields and picnic areas

Outdoor dining areas (Beginning Feb. 2011)

Locations targeted for smoking bans

Multi-family housing units

All public places where people congregate (Bus stops, large events, event areas (i.e. Coliseum), parking lots)