Councilman: Ban Smoking on the Pier

The city may soon ban smoking on the if Councilman Pat Aust gets his way.

"We do have a ban on smoking on the beaches," Aust said at Tuesday's city council meeting. "We do have a ban on smoking in our parks, but we (don't) have an exclusion of smoking on the pier itself, even though it's considered a park."

While explaining that the city should either set up designating smoking areas or ban lighting up on the pier altogether, Aust added that it would further the city's participation in the Healthways Blue Zones Project.

The Blue Zones Project—a program formerly known as the Vitality City initiative that encourages healthy living in the Beach Cities—calls for cities to fulfill certain qualifications in order to become recognized as a Blue Zone Community. Banning smoking on the pier would fulfill one of those qualifications.

"The big deal is that it's only one area, which is a huge deal nationally," a representative from the Blue Zones Project told the council. "Redondo Beach is clearly a leader in this country for making these types of changes."

The council voted 2-1, with Councilman Steven Diels opposed and Councilmen Matt Kilroy and Steve Aspel absent, to direct city staff to look into writing an ordinance banning smoking on the pier for the council to approve.