Don’t expand smoking ban — yet

The reason to take a measured approach when changing community habits can be summarized in one word: education.

The City Council is attempting to redefine what’s proper behavior at city parks by declaring smoking a prohibited activity in most areas where people gather.

The primary complaint was the litter, especially in beach sand, where smokers tended to stub out their cigarettes.

The first effort at a fix was signed into law by Mayor Kirk Caldwell only a few weeks ago, an ordinance naming seven of Oahu’s busiest park areas where people would be barred from lighting up.

But that couldn’t be enforced because most of those areas are owned by the state, so a technical amendment was needed.

Bill 25, sponsored by Councilman Ikaika Anderson, was intended to fix that legal issue. However, this measure also expands the smoking ban to all city parks and recreation areas, including auditoriums. City officials would be able to make exceptions, designating smoking areas at some of them, such as the Waikiki Shell and golf courses.

This expansion may not produce the hoped-for success, and the Council should consider reverting to the original, limited trial that named only the ones with the most traffic.

Council Chairman Ernie Martin has introduced Bill 24 to accomplish just that.

Enforcing the ban will always present a challenge, and nobody expects it to be perfect. Police simply have too much to do to be patrolling beaches in search of illicit smoking.

But the city does need to do something to help keep the beaches clean. Littering laws are already on the books, but it’s even harder to catch someone in the act of dropping a cigarette butt, so the penalties are all but meaningless.

If the smoking ban is properly publicized and notice given with adequate signage, violations at least should be easier to spot and more people should feel deterred from doing it in the first place.

Nonsmoking beachgoers should be able to help discourage the act.

Underscore the word "should."

Easing into this new policy would enable the city first to gauge its effectiveness before straining enforcement capa- bility by extending it islandwide.

Is the ban producing cleaner beaches?

Cleanup volunteers already have a sense of the status quo, so a before-and-after comparison should be possible.

Marlu West is president of Save the Sea Turtles International and Adopt a Beach Hawaii, groups engaged in regular beach cleanings. In testimony submitted before the Council, West cited records kept for North Shore beaches that indicate a rising tide of cigarette trash, amounting in the first three months this year to just under 20,000 cigarette butts.

That’s an astounding figure.

West is right that this rubbish can wash into the ocean and threaten marine life, posing a threat to birds scavenging on the beach even if it remains stuck in the sand.

Besides, nobody would dispute the contention that it’s filthy and a detraction from otherwise beautiful surroundings.

However, smoking zones have continuously contracted for years, and the removal of another permitted area should be phased in, accompanied by public education.

Outreach in the form of public service announcements would strengthen the chances of success.

It needs to involve the visitor industry as well: Many tourists, visiting from Japan and elsewhere, are accustomed to smoking publicly. Enlisting them in the effort is essential.

Even for those who find the smoking habit distasteful must acknowledge that habits take time to change.

Bill 24 is the measure that takes this into account.