SF supes push ban on outdoor smoking

Snuff out your cigarettes San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors are getting serious.

Tuesday the board unanimously gave initial approval to legislation banning smoking at outdoor public events. That means no more smoking at Folsom Street Fair, Haight-Ashbury Street Fair, or the Fillmore Jazz Festival.

The legislation was introduced by Supervisor Eric Mar in an effort to keep the public from unwanted exposure to secondhand smoke.

Certain events will be required to state on all promotional materials that the event is smoke-free, and, during the event, they must make announcements about the smoking ban every two hours.

Mar told the Ex:

“This is largely a public-education effort that doesn’t have additional enforcement attached to it.”

You may be wondering how The City intends to enforce this ban. Via peer pressure, of course. Mar says the announcements and public awareness will cause people to “self-patrol themselves for smoking.”

However, as punishment, The City does have the ability to reject permit applications from event producers who have violated the smoking rules at previous events.

Another piece of legislation was also passed requiring landlords to disclose the number of smoking units in their buildings. They will also be required to designate units as smoking or nonsmoking to future tenants and in real estate listings.

Mar believes that “disclosure also benefits landlords by reducing nuisance complaints and disputes regarding secondhand smoke.” Advocates hope this new legislation will eventually phase out smoking units altogether.

Both pieces of legislation will receive a final vote from supervisors at their next meeting.