In a first for San Diego, elected leaders are advocating banning smoking and vaping at all outdoor dining areas.<\/p>\n
At the urging of City Councilmember Jennifer Campbell \u2014 who is also a longtime medical professional \u2014 members of the council\u2019s Community and Neighborhood Services Committee on Wednesday agreed to advance an ordinance that would create a citywide standard for smoke- and vape-free outdoor dining areas, something that\u2019s already in place in 15 of the county\u2019s 19 jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
The proposed ban, which was universally supported by members of the public during the afternoon hearing, will now move forward to the full City Council for consideration.<\/p>\n
The goal of what would be a change in San Diego\u2019s municipal code is to shield the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke by \u201cregulating smoking areas where residents, visitors, and restaurant patrons dine and gather,\u201d said Campbell\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
If enacted, the prohibition would specifically exempt private outdoor events and adult-only bars and nightclubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting the health and well-being of the community remains my priority; after all, I am a physician,\u201d said Campbell, who will be leaving office later this year after having termed out of her District 2 seat. \u201cI believe that establishing a consistent citywide standard for smoking and vaping in outdoor settings is an important step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her colleagues on the council committee heartily agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that is so obviously common sense,\u201d said Councilmember Raul Campillo. \u201cAnybody in this room want more heart disease? Strokes? Cancer? My constituents neither.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell\u2019s office noted that the move to bar smoking and vaping at outdoor dining venues was bolstered by the work of San Diego State University\u2019s Policy Research Center for Tobacco and the Environment. In a 2024 study, the center\u2019s researchers tested nicotine levels at restaurants where smoking was allowed outdoors and found that of 100% of those restaurants had detectable levels of nicotine on their patio tables, but those venues where outdoor smoking wasn\u2019t permitted were less likely to have levels of concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a health issue for those who work in these environments,\u201d center co-director Thomas Novotny\u00a0told the council members. \u201cThey are exposed to cigarette smoke involuntarily, and at the same time, for those who visit and are consumers, it\u2019s a public nuisance. So what we hope is that this extension of existing legislation will kind of close a gap that I think we all can recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n
The center\u2019s July 2025 report had pointed out that San Diego remains the largest city in the county without a comprehensive smoke-free outdoor dining policy.<\/p>\n
To gauge support for such a ban, the center polled 1,793 California adults. The survey found that 73% of Californians surveyed would not eat in an outdoor dining area where people were smoking.<\/p>\n
While no one representing the San Diego restaurant industry appeared at Wednesday\u2019s hearing, the California Restaurant Association provided the Union-Tribune with a statement indicating its support of a smoking prohibition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe California Restaurant Association supports measures that protect the health and safety of restaurant employees and guests, while also considering the needs of businesses and private events,\u201d said Jot Condie, president and CEO\u2028of the California Restaurant Association. \u201cWe appreciate that San Diego\u2019s proposed outdoor smoking policy exempts private outdoor events, offering flexibility for such gatherings and supporting public health objectives. We believe this approach achieves a balanced outcome for restaurants, their employees, and the communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several San Diegans who spoke in favor of the prohibition talked about how unpleasant it is when dining outside near someone who is smoking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recently experienced this firsthand in Little Italy, and a man was smoking a very large cigar on a patio, which created an uncomfortable situation for several families and residents,\u201d said Becky Rapp. \u201cThis situation becomes more important as the city moves towards more mixed-use and higher-density development, where we\u2019re putting homes closer to restaurants, patios, businesses, sidewalks, courtyards and other shared outdoor spaces. An inclusive outdoor dining policy should allow families, older adults and people who are sensitive to smoke to enjoy these spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just how soon an outdoor dining smoking ban could go into effect remains unclear. It\u2019s likely that the full council will consider the proposal before the end of the year, said Guillermo Castillo, a policy adviser to Campbell. If approved, it\u2019s possible that it may not take effect until early next year, he said.<\/p>\n
As part of the move to create smoke-free areas, restaurateurs would be required to post signs notifying patrons of the prohibition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a first for San Diego, elected leaders are advocating banning smoking and vaping at all outdoor dining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[387,421,181,412,74,76,75,420,1696],"class_list":["post-474038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-business","tag-food-and-drink","tag-latest-headlines","tag-restaurants","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474038","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=474038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}