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A heated debate erupts in Beverly Hills as hair salons, gas stations and Tony stores wonder if the city of the rich and famous should become the first in the United States to ban the sale of tobacco products everywhere except a cigar lounges.
The city council decided on Tuesday night to make some changes to the proposal, including allowing customers of the city's luxury hotels to buy cigarettes through the concierge or the hotel's service. 39; floor. Members indicated that they plan to adopt the amended measure on May 21.
Abstainers said yes to the idea, and the sooner the better, while smokers protested, absolutely not.
"It's a ridiculous idea," hairdresser Giuseppe Franco said after lighting up a Marlboro Light in a walkway right next to the upscale hair salon named after him.
"First of all, let's be honest, smoking, it's bad, I do not let my daughter smoke," he said during a sometimes profane tirade delivered between two puffs.
"But it's going to hurt my friends," he said, pointing out that a 24-hour pharmacy in the Rite Aid store is a profitable activity for cigarettes costing about $ 8 a pack.
The Union 76 petrol station is a few blocks away, where the cashier claims to sell about 50 packages a day at $ 12 each.
California is one of at least 25 states that ban smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars. It also has one of the highest cigarette taxes in the country – nearly $ 3 per pack.
Beverly Hills already restricts the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.
But the proposed order would go much further, banning all tobacco products in grocery stores, pharmacies, hotels and gas stations in the city of 34,000 residents located between West Hollywood and Los Angeles.
"My famous customers smoke," said Franco.
Like most businessmen in Beverly Hills, he will not name them, but he took out a copy of the hotel's magazine janitor, with a photo of him with his friend cigar lover Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cigar smokers will probably not have to sacrifice themselves if the order is passed. A municipal staff report recommends exempting three Tony cigar shows in Beverly Hills.
Yet, people from one of them, Fine Cigars of Nazareth, were not happy.
"They're going to chase the tourists out of here," said John Davis, a retired businessman, while he was relaxing in a comfortable chair with his cigar in his hand.
The decision was made after the five-member council heard two hours of sometimes moving but always polite testimony from dozens of people on both sides of the issue.
Owners of gas stations and other small businesses said the ban could force them to fire people. Health advocates said they regretted this possibility, but that people's health was more important.
Scott McGuff, regional director of Rite Aide, said the Beverly Hills pharmacy was attracting many customers to nearby luxury hotels, who were picking up cigarettes and other items and losing them without cigarettes.
"This is going to affect layoffs, that's the big deal for me," he said.
Although council members sympathized, they said the health of the population was too important for Beverly Hills to take any action.
"We are responsible for ensuring public health and this is really the subject of this conversation," said Councilman Julian Gold.
Nowadays, many people visit Beverly Hills from Asia and Europe, where smoking is commonplace, Davis said earlier in the cigar bar. Of course, if the order is passed, they will still walk in Rodeo Drive with its upscale stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Cartier, and will attempt to find Larry King and other celebrities traveling to the city. Nate's groceries' N Al for breakfast. .
But they will go to West Hollywood to buy their cigarettes because cigarette sales would even be banned in famous places like the Beverly Wilshire, the hotel in which the character Julia Roberts stayed in "Pretty Woman", the film that made it a star.
Everyone in Beverly Hills is not a rich celebrity, of course. While the median home price exceeds $ 2 million and the median annual income exceeds $ 103,000, about 9% of the population is below the poverty line, according to the US Census.
Gas stations, pharmacies and other places offering modest jobs and cigarettes are hidden in corners adjacent to Rodeo Drive and in other fashionable streets. According to the municipal staff report, only 28 sell tobacco products.
The city's report cites the dangers of smoking and Beverly Hills' desire to be a healthy city to justify banning the sale of tobacco.
For non-smokers Oscar Melendez and Cezar Diaz, this is reason enough to support him.
"I can take cigarette smoke at about thirty meters," said Melendez, pointing out that second-hand smoke was bad for everyone and that she was standing off the sidewalk near her valet to get to restaurants nearby.
In Sarah Pacini's fashionable clothing store, the situation is such that the manager, Diaz, sometimes has to close the door and ask smokers not to stay on the sidewalk.
Most, he said, respond politely.
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This story was corrected to remove an erroneous reference to the hotel where the character Julia Roberts stayed in "Pretty Woman"; and to correct Vuitton's spelling.
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