SAN GABRIEL VALLEYWIDE NEWS
Winston Chua

SAN GABRIEL – The San Gabriel City Council at its most recent meeting listened to the ardent testimonies of their constituents before an unusually large crowd of people, overflowing past the boundaries of the meeting room.

There are two main issues at hand. The first is how the City should deal with banning smoking in public parks like Plaza, Vincent Lugo, Smith and Roosevelt. The second is how to deal with tobacco retailers, possibly creating an ordinance that would make tobacco retailers apply for licenses and agree to be inspected. Such an ordinance would make retailers more accountable in terms of who they sell cigarettes to.

Students Pablo Rosell, 17, and William Vasquez, 16, spoke of how easy it was, as underage teenagers, to purchase cigarettes with legitimate forms of identification attesting to their status as minors. Roughly 15 out of 40 stores had no problems selling drugs to Pablo. William was offered cigarettes one by one when he said he couldn’t afford a pack.

“San Gabriel is the ashtray of the San Gabriel Valley,” said Roy Rosell, 50, an anti-smoking advocate who has spent much of his life in education. Rosell was among several of the anti-smoking contingent, who taught the Council about the deleterious effects of smoking and its proximity to cancer and death.

Rosell brought with him several two-liter bottles filled with thousands of cigarette butts gathered in San Gabriel’s parks. Councilman Kevin Sawkins said that he is interested in learning more about the issue, as he is the father of three kids who attend local schools. Still, he is also aware that there is already a smoking prohibition within 100 feet of playgrounds.

“This is not the first time the issue has come up,” said Sawkins. I anticipate it will be on the city agenda in the coming months and we will discuss the merits of it.”

He noted that there are already laws and does not want to make unnecessary ones for the sake of duplicating bureaucracy.

Non San Gabriel residents lent their support with big signs that caught the eye of the Mayor, who at one point asked members of the audience to temper their enthusiasm so other audience members could focus on the meeting. The group came from Day One Pasadena, an organization that convenes and coordinates ways the San Gabriel Valley can reduce the problems associated with alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.

Pregnant women who smoke cigarettes have experienced their children develop birth defects that include mental and physical disabilities. Each cigarette smoked shortens lifespan by 11 minutes and smokers who die of tobacco related diseases lose on average, 14 years of life, according to studies.