Councilmembers propose smoking ban at city beaches/parks

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 5, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

Two San Diego councilmen Monday proposed a ban on smoking cigarettes in all beaches and parks in the city. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The city of San Diego is following the examples of L.A., San Francisco and Del Mar in proposing to fine anyone ticketed for smoking along the city's 17 miles of beaches. Councilman Jim Madaffer says cigarette butts are a major source of litter and the ban would also apply to city parks like Mission Bay and Cowles Mountain.

Madaffer: "It is high time that our parks and our beaches are no longer used as an ashtray."

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Council President Scott Peters says if the council approves the proposal, signs banning smoking would go up, but the issue would be mainly self enforced. The city of Solana Beach passed a ban three years ago, with a $100 fine for smoking on the beach, but has not actually imposed the fine on anyone. The proposal is supported by environmental groups, the American Lung Association and the city fire department. Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.