Tobacco.org

Modified smoke ban still unacceptable to biz organizations  

Amendments made to a key "public nuisance" provision of the city's anti-smoking ordinance - approved at Tuesday's city council meeting - at a March 25 meeting may have been intended to assuage local business organizations' concerns about a possible rise in civil suits against Novato business owners. But the changes, which were intended to limit the smelly habit's legal definition as a "nuisance" to its intrusion into residencies, such as condos and apartments, failed win over two of its chief critics.

The Novato Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Novato Business Association, both of which previously sent representatives to the March 25 meeting to request the city scrap the potentially litigious nuisance provision, continued to oppose it after the changes, while maintaining support for other aspects of the ordinance, which bans where cigarettes can be smoked and deposited from virtually any public place.

"I'm afraid the DNBA is still concerned it could be too broadly interpreted," said Denise Athas, president of the DNBA.

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