Laguna Niguel, Calif. Adopts Park Smoking Ban

The city council of Laguna Niguel, Calif. has adopted an ordinance that prohibits smoking in all city recreational areas and will go into effect on July 20, 2014.

The new ordinance prohibits smoking–including e-cigarettes–in all City recreational areas open to the public including parks, picnic areas, playgrounds, gardens, athletic fields, sports facilities, skateboard parks, and other open space.

Those who violate the ordinance would be cited with an infraction, which carries fines starting $100 for the first offense and then escalating to $200 for the second offense, and $500 for the third and subsequent offences. Enforcement of the smoking ban will fall to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and City Code Enforcement personnel. There will be signs posted at all city parks and sports facilities informing the public of the prohibition.

The ordinance passed on June 20 with a 4-1 vote, with Council Member Robert Ming as the lone opposition, who felt that “while he understood and supported the Council’s desire to protect the public from the adverse impacts of secondhand smoke, he believed the language of the ordinance was overly broad and too restrictive,” according to the city’s City Hall E-News newsletter.

Laguna Niguel is home to approximately 65,000 residents in southern Orange County, just over 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.