Features

Mayor Shirley Dean is proposing an amendment to the city’s municipal code that will ban smoking within 15 to 25 feet of the entrances of all buildings open to the public. 

The tobacco coalition originated the idea in conjunction with others concerned about tobacco usage in the city, said Mayor Shirley Dean. 

“Whether it becomes law or not is another question,” Dean said. “But I agree with it. What has happened as people have gotten more and more use to not smoking in their offices they are going to sit outside. And the smoke is wafting into the doorway.” 

The item will be considered by the City Council during its regular meeting on Tuesday. 

The amendment would cover both publicly owned and privately owned buildings that are open to the public including stores, bars and restaurants. 

“Over the years, the city of Berkeley has been in the forefront of anti-smoking legislation and has taken aggressive positions on the sale and advertising on the sale and advertising of tobacco,” the recommendation reads. 

The recommendation claims numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution and that breathing secondhand smoke is the cause of disease, including lung cancer, in nonsmokers.