Last August I hollered for help in harrassing the El Cajon, CA, City Council about a proposed Calabasas style outdoor smoking ban. El Cajon Mayor Lewis complained on a televised City Council meeting that he was getting telephone calls from people who did not even live in California. Thanks, guys. The ban passed anyhow. Here is a follow-up.

I posted the following in the Smokers' Club Inc. International Forum, California Section. Their Forum is accessible to registered members only, so I am posting it here for everyone:

Post Subject: The Incipient San Diego County Smokers' Club, June 2, 2008

In addition to the large city of San Diego, there are 17 smaller incorporated cities in San Diego County. In August, 2007, the 5 person City Council of El Cajon (pop.96,000) quietly rammed through a Calabasas type smoking ordinance which prohibits smoking in almost every public and private outdoor space in the city except the yards of detached houses.

La Mesa (pop. 56,000) sits next to El Cajon. That same month, August, 2007, a L Mesa City Council member proposed that La Mesa adopt a version of the El Cajon law. (La Mesa already has a smoking prohibition in city parks.) The mayor of La Mesa did not want to use El Cajon's steamroller tactics on his citizens and directed the La Mesa Community Services Commission to get local business owner and citizen opinions.

Over the next eight months, the Commission held two "town hall" public hearings, one for business owners and one for the general citizenry. It mailed a printed opinion survey form to 3,248 licensed businesses, had printed survey forms available for community members and set up an online survey form on the city website.

A total of 558 responses were received. A total of 355 (64%) were opposed to the smoking ban.

Many respondents commented that the proposed ban was an unwelcome government intrusion on private business property.

On May 27, 2008, the La Mesa City Council received the Commission's report and decided that, in response to the negative citizen input, they would not enact the proposed no smoking law.

How did this happen in CALIFORNIA? From September through April I attended every monthly meeting of the seven member Community Services Commission. I spoke at the meetings and deluged the seven members with printed educational material from the Smokers' Club encyclopedia and Forces. I also deluged the City Council. I went to almost every bar in town and turned in over 150 signed survey ballots from the bars' smoking patrons. I gave hand-out flyers to every liquor/tobacco/convenience store owner, directing cigarette buyers to the online survey. I gave flyers to business owners urging them to tell city government to let them make their own business decisions.

A business owner attached a flyer to a petition and set it out at their business for customers to sign. The customers told friends. Smoking and non-smoking residents and business owners from all around the neighborhood dropped in to sign it. (El Cajon's vindictive ban has alienated a lot of non-smokers.)

That one business owner and I succeeded because of all the wonderful people who listened to us and voted "No" on the survey, but I want to emphasize that one or two dedicated people CAN make a difference at City Hall.

Within the past few months Encinitas, a San Diego County beach city, enacted a smoking ban on their beaches, city parks, and outdoor dining and coffee house patios. There was no one to speak to the Encinitas City Council for us. Carlsbad, another San Diego County beach city, is giving in to the Anti-Smoking groups' pressure for a similar ban. Lemon Grove, on the borders of La Mesa, is considering a city parks ban.

We need active Smokers' Club members in San Diego County. The business owner and I are working to start a nuclear Smokers' Club in La Mesa. IS ANYBODY OUT THERE LISTENING?
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Smoking Lobby Members: I am not bragging. I am telling you that if a half-deaf 76 year old woman with bad night vision and a 20 year old truck can buzz around and do this YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!