Stop Smoking Way

Lighting up a cigarette while strolling through Hayward-area parks will soon be a thing of the past.

Board members of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District unanimously voted earlier this week to amend its anti-smoking ordinance, effectively banning smoking in all of its parks and facilities.

Park Superintendent Larry Lepore said he expects the district to enforce the amended ban beginning May 1.

However, “It’s going to be extremely hard to enforce this,” Lepore said. “If a ranger happens to observe someone smoking, they’re going to ask them to please put the cigarette out. Obviously, if the individual refuses, the ranger will have the ability to write a citation.”

The only exception made was for a designated smoking area at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo arena in unincorporated Hayward. The district owns the rodeo park.

The ban applies to cigarettes, cigars or any other combustible plant — including medical marijuana — but not chewing tobacco.

The park district, which operates parks and recreation facilities in Hayward, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo and the unincorporated Ashland, Cherryland and Fairview districts, already prohibited smoking in designated parks, as well as children’s play areas, and in and around district buildings.

The park district is following the city of Hayward’s lead, bringing the district in line with a strict smoking ban the City Council passed in May 2008, Lepore said. Hayward banned smoking on city sidewalks, streets and in public places, such as outdoor patios at restaurants, city parks, sports fields, playgrounds and municipal parking lots.

Because Hayward owns the land at the park district’s Mission Hills and Skywest golf courses, smoking has already been prohibited at those facilities for about a year.

At the golf courses, smokers comply when asked to put out their cigarettes, Lepore said. He said citations for smoking can come with a fine of up to $200, depending on the disposition of the judge who reviews it.

“We send all our citations to a company to Arizona that processes them,” he said. “The court system takes over from there.”

Because of court fees, Lepore expects the district to receive very little revenue from issuing smoking citations, he said.

At the park district’s board meeting Monday night, representatives from the American Cancer Society, Buck Tobacco Sponsorship and the Alameda County Public Health Department voiced support for the smoking ban. No one spoke in opposition.

“I think people get the idea that being exposed to secondhand smoke in your home and office is dangerous, but as far outdoors, people are not as aware of the dangers,” said Paul Cummings, the health department’s tobacco control program project director. “We would hope this means less exposure to secondhand smoke in parks, and also hope that people would smoke less.”

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Tags: Smoking ban