I love that Hermosa Beach is a smoke-free community, and I love that the city is taking even further steps to remove tobacco and cigarettes from the community. Our beaches don’t have butts, you can sit in a sidewalk cafe without having smoke blown in your face, and our community is made up of healthier and healthier individuals that care as much about their own bodies as they do their community. Now, Hermosa Beach is going to ramp up enforcement of its public smoking bans.
Since 2011, the city has banned all public smoking, but in areas like the Strand, the pier, and the plaza, people have been getting away with it now and then. No longer. E-cigarettes are now officially banned as well as regular cigarettes. Tobacco sellers might also find themselves in a position that makes it tougher to sell tobacco to minors. Now, all outdoor areas including parking lots and parks are 100% smoke-free.
While some people may not think it’s a problem, it’s a fact that tobacco smoke can seep between apartment windows, electrical outlets, pipes, and more, meaning that smoke-free housing has to become a priority for the city. Second-hand smoke is a real threat to everyone’s health and enjoyment of the local scenery. For a list of all the downtown Hermosa Beach smoke-free locations, you can look at this document. The Hermosa Beach Healthy Air Education Campaign works to provide free resources to the public about the smoke-free policy. You can find out more about that here.