Comments of the Week: Smoking, Styrofoam

As the Hermosa Beach City Council on Tuesday considered banning smoking in public places around town and the use of Styrofoam food take-out containers in restaurants, the community—and Patch readers—were vocal with their opinions on both measures.

Here are some of the reader comments we received this week.

City closer to banning Styrofoam

The council decided in a 3-2 vote to move forward with drafting a food take-out containers in restaurants, as well as educating food vendors and customers about the substance. Councilmen Kit Bobko and Michael DiVirgilio voted against the ban idea.

Two Patch readers applauded the council's decision:

• "Good on you City council. Lets get rid of one time use plastic grocery bags next. Get on board Kit and Michael. JW." — wrote
• "I am thrilled to see the city council prohibit the use of polystyrene foam containers from being used in local restaurants. Coming on the heels of the smoking ban, this is a great day for the people of Hermosa Beach and the environment. Once again corporate profiteers and polluters have struck out trying to sacrifice the health of the many so that they can make a profit. There is no other side to this." — wrote .

Smoking in public places outlawed

The council unanimously decided, with Bobko absent, to introduce an ordinance in outdoor dining areas, Pier Plaza, all city parks, the greenbelt, the Strand, and public parking lots. The law goes into effect March 1.

Here are some of the responses Patch readers had:

• "Smoke dissipates in the open air so the hype about health is just scare tactics. All the self-righteous hypocrisy about it being good for you to quit smoking ignores the fact that this ban tells long time smokers, like me that you don't want me to continue to be active in Hermosa Beach. I was a smoker when I was one of the founders of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in town. I was a smoker for the 15 years I spent on the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. I will now be a smoker who feels outlawed from a place I did my best to support for many years. You have banned me- for my own good, of course." — wrote
• "Your actually right J Travers. The vehicle exhaust alone on Pier and Hermosa Ave. outways the cigerette smoke by 27.4 metric tons each year per latest environmental impact report. This is like banning one grain of sand from the entire Hermosa beach because they think it will help reduce crabs from ingesting it. LOL - what a joke this is." – wrote
• "No, J Travers Devine, you have not been banned "for your own good", you have been banned for the good of the 50,000 American non-smokers (including 14,000 children) who are killed each year from exposure to secondhand smoke. You can smoke all you like as far as I'm concerned, just don't do it anywhere near someone who has chosen not to smoke. My right to health exceeds your right to enjoyment any day." — wrote
• "Kudos to Hermosa Beach! There is only one side to this debate, that's why it's over. Second hand smoke kills. I could care less what smokers think or say. If they don't like the ban, feel free to move somewhere else. If I see someone violating the ban, they're getting reported." — wrote .
• "To prohibit smoking in all public places is one of the best moves that the City Council has made this year! We were totally smoked out at the recent Beer Garden of the Hermosa Fiesta. A table of 5 young ladies, all smokers, would lite up at the same time and we were right next to them, down wind. I asked them nicely to please alternate lighting up and of course they gave me the stink eye and said "we'll be leaving soon", which they did. Sorry, It's our birthright to breath clean air, not the opposite. Don't get me started on the cig butts component of this issue. Thanks HB for setting a healthy precedent for many more cities to come!" — wrote .
• "Just one more example giving the government more control over your freedom.of choice. What's next, banning gas burning automobiles. They cause alot more foul air than smoking." — wrote

Coming up: Check Patch on Sundays for our weekly roundup of the latest Hermosa Beach headlines in Week in Review.