No Smoking: Orange County Increasingly Bans Tobacco, Vapes in Public<\/a>]<\/p>\nSlater said his primary concern and the main reason for the proposed ban is the city\u2019s homeless population. He described these people as hanging out all day in the parks, adding that he believes at least 90% are smoking or vaping.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the ban would help the police remove these people from city parks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Slater also stated that he discussed the proposal with the police chief, who agreed the ban would benefit the police department.<\/p>\n
Police Chief Adam Jevec later addressed the city council and echoed the mayor\u2019s position.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said a smoking ban could provide officers with an additional enforcement tool, allowing them to detain individuals and \u201cdetermine what to do\u201d with members of the homeless population.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jevec further added that the ordinance could serve as a \u201creason to run them and have them removed from the park,\u201d and would \u201callow us to get out some of the problem people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, he also raised concerns about the department\u2019s limited resources and questioned the feasibility of consistently enforcing the ban.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the city council agreed to send the issue back to the commission, there were concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James Kushon, a member of the city\u2019s Park Planning and Community Events Commission, expressed frustration that the discussion was not first presented to the commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI respectfully request this matter be routed back through our commission for proper public discussion,\u201d Kushon said at the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Councilmember Jon Dumitru echoed Kushon\u2019s opinion that the ban should first be reviewed by the park planning commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should go through that process where we have the park commission start looking at the item first,\u201d Dumitru said.<\/p>\n
Dumitru also noted enforcement challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources to chase people around who are smoking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dumitru suggested finding a middle ground, such as clearly signed smoking areas put in place, depending on the size of the park.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Kathy Tavoularis raised similar concerns about the city\u2019s ability to enforce a smoking ban in local parks and the potential costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re already stretched thin, and our police have so much to do with, excuse me for saying this, real crime,\u201d she said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s a cost that we have to be prepared for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Arianna Barrios agreed, arguing for the implementation of designated smoking areas, saying it empowers residents to resolve conflicts among themselves rather than calling the police.<\/p>\n
Some Orange residents also voiced support for smoking bans in public parks at the Feb. 10 meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mike Brydges, who has lived in Orange for 40 years, expressed concern about government control. Although he worries that other \u201cfreedoms\u201d will be taken away, he ultimately shares the mayor\u2019s motivations and urges the council to look into the ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do need more designated areas,\u201d Brydges said. \u201cI don\u2019t think smoking at the parks is a problem; I think it\u2019s the homeless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another resident, Glory Johnson, advocated for the government to step in, citing concerns about the health and safety of those who use public parks.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome say this ban may be government overreach, but rather, I think this is what government is meant to do,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt has the responsibility to protect our people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson also argues that the ban would prevent the litter of cigarette butts, lowering fire risks and improving the quality of Orange parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other residents expressed similar concerns about safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you smoke or vape, everyone around you also smokes or vapes,\u201d resident Reggie Mundekis said.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While cities across Orange County look to ban smoking in public areas, the City of Orange is looking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,969,105448,1493,105610,171,53047,105611,27142,78716],"class_list":["post-232921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-homeless","tag-homeless-in-orange-county","tag-homelessness","tag-old-towne-orange","tag-orange","tag-orange-city-council","tag-orange-city-hall","tag-smoking","tag-smoking-ban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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