Lynwood City Council Moves Forward with Anti-Smoking Ordinance

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The Lynwood City Council voted 4 to 1 in favor of moving forward with an ordinance that would force local tobacco sellers to pay a $250 license fee.  The ordinance was seen by supporters as way to combat tobacco use and underage smoking.

“This tobacco retail license ordinance will be able reduce the purchase of tobacco among the youth,” said Laura Gazdzlak, a public health nurse affiliated with the Los Angeles County government. “This ordinance will also reduce health costs.”

Supporting councilmembers remained for the most part quiet during this second reading. Some having already expressed the reasons behind their support during the reading in early May.

“I’ve had many relatives die from lung cancer [and] emphysema,” said Lynwood Mayor Jim Morton during last May’s meeting. “Both my parents died from smoking.”

Among the new restrictions for local tobacco retailers that would be introduced with this proposed regulatory rule, include a prohibition that would disallow underage employees to sell tobacco or any other product that are aesthetically similar, such as candy cigarettes.  

There were, however, opposing voices amongst the supporting majority, who expressed concerns of excessive restrictions.

“There are far too many regulations already in place for business owners or operators of such establishments,” said Irene Garcia, a resident of Lynwood at the meeting. “It appears we are headed back to the prohibition days.”

While others, such as Councilmember Aide Castro, who gave the sole vote against the ordinance, expressed concerns over the functionality of the law.

Arguing, among other things, that the proper enforcement of this ordinance will not be fully financially covered by the $250 fee.

“We are not able to truly enforce it unless we if perform stings,” said Castro, citing a document given to her from the city clerk’s office, which oversees the business department that would be in charge of issuing the licenses, as well as with the monitoring the compliance of this ordinance. “We need to allocate money for this.”

The official financial impact of this ordinance is expected be made before implementation. The latter is currently set to take place thirty days after this most recent reading. 

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