Clean air isn't just about caring for our environment; it's about tackling a root cause of many serious health issues such as cancer and asthma that are amplified by poor air quality. On Monday, I was proud to join international cycling icon and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and Stand Up to Cancer to announce my support for the California Cancer Research Act. We need the voters of California to enact this law in June, but we also need to enact change at the local-level now.
That is why I am proud of the fact that Los Angeles is leading the rest of the country in championing policy that protects public health. LA is the largest city to implement the Fresh Air Dining Campaign -- a new policy that prohibits anyone from smoking within 10 feet of outdoor dining areas and within 40 feet of mobile food kiosks, carts, or trucks. This new restriction will protect patrons and workers from breathing the toxic chemicals that come along with secondhand smoke, as well as help patrons enjoy their dining experiences in a smoke-free setting.
This is yet another step in the right direction of promoting healthier living for Angelenos. Over the past three years, we have banned smoking at city beaches, city parks, farmers markets and within 25 feet of playgrounds, bleachers, sports courts and fields, and picnic areas.
We have been at the forefront of this fight, since cancer and other smoking-related illnesses are uniquely dangerous. They don't just affect smokers -- they affect all the people around them. According to the LA County Department of Health:
This new policy represents our efforts to ensure we are doing everything we can to curb cancer and other smoking-related illnesses while also improving our air quality and quality of life. We must keep fighting for robust anti-smoking policies that are critical to creating livable communities.
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In 1993 LA published its study on telecommuting that showed that telecommuting reduced traffic by 30% and reduced the need for office space by 30% -- by 1992 telecommunications standards. Had Al Gore even invented the Internet in 1992? That study was thrown in the trash because big business hated it.
The developers who own Los Angeles, Inc. hated it. They would not get to build subways costing tax payers billions of dollars with 30% less traffic. Week day would be like a Saturday or Sunday.
The developers would not be able to use tax payers dollars to build huge projects. During that time more than $2 Billion property tax dollars went to real estate speculators, which is why LA is in financial ruins now.
A 30% reduction is traffic would have been the greatest reduction in air pollution measure. But the oil companies did not want a 30% drop in automobile driving. LA is a trend setter. When LA reduced traffic and air pollution by telecommuting, all the other cities would have followed.
No other measure would have reduced dependence on foreign oil more than Telecommuting ...
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Since the reduction in traffic was 40% by 1992 technology, imagine the reduction by 2011 technology. we see it in advertisements on TV with Cisco's Telepresence. No longer is telecommuting limited to business meetings. With wall size 3-D TV monitors, we have advanced to Virtual Presence -- it is like being at home with family and friends. If you've moved to LA for retirement, you can play bridge with friends who retired in Miami or are still in Cleveland.
With Virtual Presence, a mother in LA can shop in Paris, France with her daughter who is in Iowa to help buy a bridal gown and be joined by her sister who lives in Rio. Virtual stores will be like walking down the store aisles, taking dresses off the racks, trying them on, etc. All of this would already be here, except oil, Detroit, and international mega-developers stopped Telecommuting (Virtual Presence).
If we vote out the crooks, we can invite in the future.
BTW, Mr. Mayor, if you or one of your staff are reading these comments, let me say that I noticed years ago that some rubber companies are disposing of their rubber by burning on nights when there is no moonlight, or when it is raining, so the smoke can't be seen. I had occasion to work next to one of these tire disposal places for awhile, and witnessed them repeatedly burning rubber at night, when they were less likely to get caught. When the wind blew the burning rubber my way, it was horrific. I imagine it can't be good for the air quality in LA to have such blatant violations of common sense, and the law, taking place.
Cigarette smoke smells horrible. It ruins the aroma of food, coffee, etc. And in a lot of cafes smokers tend to "own" the outdoor patio, eliminating the chance of any smoke-free experience. So yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Kudos, Mayor!
There was a time in the middle of the last century when South Cal had the largest (most miles) light rail mass transit system in the world, with the highest number of riders, also in the world.
It was gradually bought up by a group comprised mostly of Standard Oil (the predecessor to Exxon and Chevron), General Motors, and Firestone.
Why, you might ask, would these corporations spend valuable stockholder money buying into a competing industry, one that was keeping people out of cars? Well, they ran the business into the ground, and then closed it down, claiming that people were no longer interested in partaking of the products that were competing with Big Oil, Detroit, and the Tire industry, and it was purely coincidental that the companies which bought and closed down the mass transit system profited so much by closing it down.
And, of course, it was purely coincidental that those same three companies went around the country, buying up light rail mass transit system wherever possible ( about 50 of them), and then closing them down. Purely coincidental that closing down the competition made them more profitable.
These companies were sued, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that "free enterprise", and the marketplace of the capitalist system, allowed for competitors to buy each other up and then shut them down.
The people chose not to ride the trolleys. The studies in the 1915, 1917, and the 1920's showed that Angelenos would not ride subways. The City let developers build one anyway -- it went bankrupt because Angelenos refused to use it.
While I believe that the car and oil companies definitely would have sabotaged any competitor, in the case of LA, there no need for a nefarious campaign. The trolleys were dangerous and the people hated them.
If one spent 15 minutes in a closed garage with a car running (or lawnmower, leafblower, etc.), the outcome would be quite dire. 15 minutes with someone smoking a cigarette in a closed garage would have almost no effect at all.
As for the Prius, it is not only the top selling hybrid car in the world, but the top selling model of any car in Japan.
Vehicle emmisions are exponentially more harmful to air quality
The root cause of vehicle emmisions is SPRAWL, of which Los Angeles is notorious.
Until you tackle your land use and urban sprawl issues (which is nigh impossible at this point) you will never have "clean air".