Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stopping smoking
Hollywood doesn’t want you to smoke at the beach
Hollywood finds signs are not working well at the beach.
HOLLYWOOD – A beachgoer lights up his Marlboro cigarette near a “Thank you for not smoking” sign.
Not far away, a sunburned British tourist takes one last puff before tossing his in the trash.
Hollywood wanted to ban smoking at the beach earlier this year, but is forbidden from doing so under state law. So city commissioners came up with another plan.
Over the spring and summer, signs went up encouraging people not to smoke.
But the signs don’t seem to be working. Some say they’re too small to snare a beachgoer’s attention and aren’t posted in prominent locations. Others say they give the false impression that Hollywood has banned smoking.
City Commissioner Dick Blattner, who pushed for an outright ban on smoking in January, said he plans to look into what more the city can do about the signs.
Shawn Lowe, a Hollywood waiter who favors Marlboros, said he might have thought twice about smoking had the sign been more prominent. “I never even saw the sign,” Lowe said. One sign fooled Plantation resident William Warrow into thinking the city had a smoking ban on the beach.
Warrow, 70, says he spotted the sign and thought he had the right to ask a group of smokers not to smoke near his wife, a breast cancer survivor. It didn’t go over well. Another woman saw the men arguing and summoned a police officer, who told Warrow the sign was only a recommendation.
“Why bother if it’s only a recommendation?” Warrow asked. “Smokers are going to smoke.”
This past week, Hollywood officials couldn’t say how many “no smoking” signs had been posted or how much they cost.
The signs are posted near beach showers, in parking garages, at the end of streets and on some lifeguard stands, Hollywood spokeswoman Raelin Storey said.
The “no smoking” recommendation sits at the bottom corner of a sign that lists all the other restrictions on the beach, including a ban on littering, liquor, skateboards, pets, balloons and supersized beach tents.
A smaller blue sign that says “Breathe Easy — Smoke-free environment” sits near the playground equipment among at Charnow Park on the Broadwalk. But you need to look for that one, too.
Lowe said he’d think twice before smoking on the beach now that he knows city officials would prefer people refrain from smoking on the beach. But he has no intention of stopping altogether.
“I’ve been smoking for 20 years,” he said. “I’m addicted to nicotine. If I go longer than an hour without a cigarette, I get agitated. I get a headache.”
Mark Humpleby, a tourist from England, says he didn’t see the sign either.
“If I had seen it I would have come over the wall and had a smoke,” he said.
When the smoking ban was proposed in January, commissioners worried a no-smoking rule would offend tourists, be hard to enforce and risk a lawsuit.
Hollywood would have been the first city in South Florida to outlaw smoking on the beach. The ban would have applied to Hollywood parks, fields and playgrounds too. Offenders would have faced fines from $50 to $500.
“I think a ban took it too far,” Commissioner Kevin Biederman said. “Banning it was overkill.”
For now, Hollywood is asking its lobbyists and lawmakers to push legislation that would let cities decide whether they want to ban smoking within their own borders. As it stands, only state legislators have the power to ban smoking in public places.
State Rep. Evan Jenne, whose district includes Hollywood, wasn’t surprised to hear the signs aren’t working.
“No matter what kind of sign you put up, your eye won’t be drawn to the sign,” he said. “They’re going to see the water and the sand. It’s like putting a ‘No Smoking’ sign next to the Grand Canyon.”
Alex Cordani, a Delray resident who was whiling away the day at Hollywood beach, doesn’t see the point of putting up “no smoking” signs if there’s no ban.
“If you can’t enforce it, why put up signs at all?” he said. “It’s a waste of taxpayer money. Imagine driving down I-95 and seeing a sign saying: Suggested speed limit 65 mph. No one’s going to follow it. Why bother having it?”