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Oakland Bans Smoking Outdoors

Michael Moretti
Posted: October 17, 2007

Another California city has banned smoking outdoors -- the latest in a series of antismoking initiatives to pass across the state.

On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will prohibit smoking in parks, on ATM lines, in outdoor dining areas and on municipal golf courses.

Some council members had raised concerns about extending the measure to the city's handful of municipal golf courses and requiring smokers to be 10 feet from all bar entrances. Ultimately, the golf course prohibition was included in the ordinance, but smokers will not have to stand 10 feet from bar entrances.

Other communities in the Golden State have brought bans outside, including Oakland's Bay-area neighbor San Francisco, as well as those further south, such as Calabasas and Santa Monica. Indoor smoking has been banned in virtually all public spaces in California since 1998. Earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to make it illegal to smoke inside one's car when minors are present and the city of Belmont extended its ban to include private apartments and condominums.

Oakland's new measures will go into effect in one week.