Arleigh,

Have you spoken to Sandi Otto? She was very interested in this issue. I have her e-mail address if you'd like it.

Brian

Only liberals are upset about cigarettes but are just fine with legalizing "hemp".

Is this the outdoor mall on Erringer? If it is, it is mainly an outdoor facility, shouldn't the smoking be allowed?

Given how narrow the interior of the mall is and the fact that they have things there to encourage families and children to mill around, I think a smoking ban would be a good thing. In terms of hemp you should look it up in a dictionary. Hemp is used to make things like rope, I've never heard of anyone smoking hemp, but hey, feel free to give it a try.

Arleigh,

Look up the old thred on smoking. There are alot of people that will support you.

Second hand smoke is only dangerous if you inhale alot of it, not just a puff as you walk past somebody smoking.

First of all "alot" is not a word, look it up, it is "a lot". Second, if you don't have the guts to post your name, don't blog! Third, unless you are an oncologist, I don't think your opinion of second hand smoke means much. Fourth, are you saying smoking is a conservative vs liberal issue, absurd! Sandi Otto, from what I understand, also supports a smoking ban there, she and I are like Evans and Novak, this is a health issue!

I get headaches from a few puffs of smoke. I wish that we would of got an indoor mall just to avoid this issue.

Since the city helped the new owner acquire the land, I think the city could at least formally ask.

I don't buy the " It isn't up to us" arguement. I am not asking for a law, I just wish the city would say the citizens of this area request kindly that you reconsider. I think the developer would pay attention to our elected officials.

Brian,
you said, "I think the developers would pay attention to our elected officals"....and i say, "From your lips to God's ear"....

Barbra
P.S.
I find it hard to believe that Sandi Otto would support smoking at the mall.

Barbra,
No, Sandi Otto supports a smoking ban for the mall. I was just saying that the fact she and I both support a ban shows that this is not a liberal/conservative issue. The American Lung Association reports 3,000 deaths a year from second hand smoke and 35,000 heart disease deaths a year from second hand smoke. Also the DARE program teaches Simi Valley children that smoking is a gate way drug. Would it not be a great way to celebrate the 20th year of DARE in Simi Valley with a smoking ban at the new mall?

Arleigh,
Guess we will see you tomorrow night???
Barbra

Tonight is the night. We will see what happens. Anyone else coming? I told my 11 year old daughter what I was doing tonight and she said, "Really? That's good."

Did anyone else see this article....

Calabasas Snuffs Out Public Smoking
Citing health concerns, the small West Valley city takes a stand that even some of its nonsmoking residents say may go too far.

By Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writer

Nestled amid rolling hills on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, Calabasas has become an unlikely trailblazer in the debate over secondhand smoke — and even some nonsmokers wonder whether their upscale suburb has gone too far.

The city of 30,000 this week adopted an ordinance — considered by experts to be one of the toughest in the nation — strictly regulating smoking in public places. The rule bans smoking in outdoor spaces when other people are in the area.

Backers argue that the campaign is just another step in improving their town's quality of life. But others say the rules go too far.

"Everything is forbidden here," said Tal Genin, a smoker and mother of two who moved to Calabasas from Israel four months ago. "No skateboarding, no rollerblading; you can't swim in the lake. It's like 'The Truman Show': Everything looks really nice, but you can't live life."

The push has been the brainchild of Mayor Barry Groveman, a former prosecutor of environmental crimes who co-wrote California's landmark Proposition 65, a 1986 law requiring businesses to provide warnings if they expose people to potentially dangerous substances.

"We put an awful lot of time into preserving open space, into building trails and into making clean water," he said. "But it always struck me as odd to go through all the effort, but then you walk through a restaurant and walk into a cloud of foul, dangerous air. We were encouraged by several residents who felt enough is enough."

Calabasas' law, approved Wednesday, is intended to protect residents from the health hazards associated with secondhand smoke by restricting where people can smoke outdoors.

Officials are still working out the details of the ordinance, but the intent is to prohibit smoking in public areas where both smokers and nonsmokers congregate. Groveman said he hoped that the law would prompt operators of spaces such as malls and restaurants to establish convenient, segregated "outposts" where customers could smoke, much like airport smoking areas.

The new law will work like this: If someone is smoking in a public area in violation of the ordinance and is asked by another person to extinguish his cigarette, cigar or pipe and the smoker refuses, then the offended person can file a written complaint with the city attorney's office.

The city attorney can then decide whether to pursue the matter, which would mean contacting the smoker about having violated the law.

The City Council has also been debating proposals that would ban smoking in cars that children are riding in, as well as on apartment patios, though no action has been taken on those ideas.

"We are not trying to pit neighbor against neighbor," Groveman said. "We're trying to do this in the least punitive and least disruptive way. But we mean it. We hope that people who believe in their right to smoke equally believe in a person's right to breathe clean and healthy air."

Groveman said the city had received thanks from residents who are glad it was trying to protect their health. But at the Calabasas Commons mall, some residents were left shaking their heads.

Larry Klevit, who was smoking a cigar outside a coffee shop, said the city was out of line.

"Are they going to tell me how to parent my child too?" asked Klevit, an entrepreneur who lives in Calabasas. "What are they going to tell me next? I respect people's freedoms and rights, but at some point, you're taking away our freedom to smoke. I understand the idea behind the ordinance, but we're outside, not in a food court or a restaurant."

His colleague and fellow smoker Christine Childers agreed.

"People can choose not to sit next to us," she said. "They're free to move. We're not bothering anyone."

Even nonsmoker Linda Jones, who was bothered by Klevit's smoke wafting to her side of the outdoor seating area, said she thought the ordinance was over the top.

"I think it's fabulous, but I don't think it's right," Jones said. "People have the right to kill themselves. His smoke bothers me, but I don't have to sit here."

The Calabasas effort is the latest push to make it harder to smoke in public spaces in the Southland. Two years ago, some cities along the Southern California coast approved bans on beach smoking.

Other communities have banned smoking in parks, at sports venues and even in waiting lines. Palo Alto bans smoking at bus and train shelters, at public phones and within 20 feet of entrances to public spaces, according to a staff report prepared by the city of Calabasas.

It's too early to tell whether Calabasas' new ordinance will bring a legal challenge or whether it will result in the "smoking outposts" that supporters hope for. But Jones said the council should drop the matter and focus on more important safety issues — at least important in her bedroom community.

"They should be working to get people off their cellphones when they drive," she said.

Alan,
I did see it and I think it proves our City can ban smoking at the Mall if they choose.

Brian,
Arleigh showed up to the city council meeting and it was decided to see what the management company of the mall is going to do. I guess they actually took a poll of the shoppers, and they will give the feed back to the city when it is compiled////

Barbra

That sounds reasonable.

Thanks Arleigh for representing our community to the council.

Thanks Barbra for using the internet to communicate with voters. That is a real service.

Thanks to Barbra Williamson and the entire Simi Valley Council for listening and responding to concerns about smoking at the new mall. If the survey comes back saying they will keep smoking then hopefully the Council will consider stronger action. I think it is great that in Simi we are still small enough to have direct access to our elected leaders and that they are responsive to the citizens of Simi. One thing I wish I had said last night is that we do not allow people to walk through the mall with an open container of alcohol, why should we allow them to walk around smoking?

Brian,
Funny thing at the City Council meeting. The developers for Lost Canyons were there and they want to turn one public golf course into a private one and build homes on the other. Mayor Miller said that they now want to take away the golf courses and also not build a hotel as promised, he then said, "So what's in it for us?"
The developer then said they could not build the hotel because of 9/11. He claims no hotels have or can be built because of 9/11, yet many have been built, even in Simi. I just thought it was funny he blamed 9/11.

I think that takes top position in the pantheon of absurd excuses made by developers.

I'd really like to know if there is any truth to that claim. There have been two hotels built in Simi since 9/11/01, however, and I don't know this for sure, they may have been approved prior to 9/11/01.

By building over one course and privatizing the other, the developer will be reducing the public recreation options in the City. What's in it for us is fewer recreation opportunities. I think without a clear plan for more public recreation facilities, this project should not advance.

I agree with you on public recreation. You can't get a tee time when you call on Tuesday for a Friday or Saturday golf game because they are all full in Simi. You gotta go to River Ridge in Oxnard, which is a good course.

I know the perception is only wealthy people play golf, but what about the middle income people, teenagers, and kids who pay the fee to golf, but can't afford the 30-50-100K for a private membership?

Esentially, what is going on is they will delete one course and make the other private.

So Simi will have 2 private courses to 1 public course. (I don't count Sinaloa because it's a nine hole short game course, not an actual golf course where you can practice with all your clubs.)

I agree with Mayor Miller. What's in it for the whole community?

Brian,
It's OFFICIAL!!! Simi Vallkey Town Center mall will be a Non-Smoking Mall according to the owners! Thanks for everyones hard work on this one...
Barbra