SAN FRANCISCO
No signs posted on eve of outdoor smoking ban
- Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 25, 2005


With a law barring smokers from lighting up in nearly all city-run open spaces in San Francisco scheduled to take effect next Friday, "No Smoking" signs have yet to be posted, raising questions about how well the ban will be enforced.

Six months ago, the Board of Supervisors passed what is believed to be the most comprehensive outdoor smoking ban in the country. The ban covers parks, squares, gardens and playing fields under city jurisdiction. First offenders could be slapped with a $100 fine issued by a police officer or member of the city's park patrol.

At the time the legislation was passed, city officials estimated that more than 1,000 signs might need to be posted at hundreds of locations around San Francisco. But so far, the Recreation and Park Department has not budgeted any funds for the new signs, according to Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who sponsored the legislation creating the ban.

And department officials conceded last week that they haven't even created a mock-up of a sign that would alert residents to the new ordinance.

"That's an outrage,'' Alioto-Pier said, adding that she had written Yomi Agunbiade, the department's acting general manager, a letter about the issue. "They're supposed to be implementing this next week. It's wholly irresponsible. "

The signs are important because city officials are hoping that peer pressure will do more than ticket-writing police officers can in curbing smoking -- and the littering of cigarette butts -- at city parks. But without the law clearly posted, civic-minded citizens might find it hard telling scofflaw smokers to "put it out."

"I think it's fair to say it's going to be a slow rollout,'' said parks department spokeswoman Rose Marie Dennis, when asked about posting signs for the ban. "There's going to be some growing pains."

At some of the 250 parks and recreation areas under the department's control, there are already so many signs listing local laws that it may be difficult to add an additional "No Smoking" sign.

"We don't want to proliferate the parks with tons of signs,'' Dennis said.

The lack of signs is bound to lead to confusion initially about where smokers can and can't smoke. While the law bans smoking in a park, square or other location with a primary recreation use, it does not specifically mention a plaza. Officials at the Department of Public Works, which has jurisdiction over U.N. and Hallidie plazas, said last week they had been advised by the city attorney's office that the ban will not apply to those locations.

Similarly, Dennis said it is unclear whether the ban will be enforced at Union Square.

But Alioto-Pier said she believes the law covers plazas and should be enforced there. The ban does not apply to golf courses, a controversial exemption that has prompted some supervisors who voted against it to call the ordinance elitist.

"The impetus for this was the amount of cigarette butts we were finding on the ground,'' Alioto-Pier responded. "They leach toxins into our groundwater. Golf courses are very different. You pay to play on them, and they are immaculately maintained. In terms of secondhand smoke, you are making a choice to be there. In a park, you are not making a choice to be around people who are smoking."

Dennis said her department may receive $10,000 from the Department of Public Health for signs. Parks officials are planning targeted enforcement for locations where illegal smokers are most active. Along with citations, officials also may revoke permits at events where smokers are ignoring the ban.