SANTA CRUZ — Following related bans by the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors final fall and the town of Capitola in April, the Santa Cruz Metropolis Council accredited an ordinance Tuesday that may ban the sale of filtered tobacco merchandise within the metropolis starting in 2027.
On the Metropolis Council assembly Tuesday afternoon, the chambers have been full of “Ban the Butt” advocates and others from the enterprise neighborhood that oppose the native prohibition on filtered tobacco merchandise. The merchandise of common enterprise started with an introduction by Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson.
“I just wanted to take a moment to thank city staff and county partners, Supervisor (Justin) Cummings who’s taken a leadership role on this at the county and a number of community partners for their extensive work on this item and on this issue for the last few years,” stated Kalantari-Johnson on the assembly. “Today’s ordinance reflects a simple truth, and that is that filtered cigarettes are the most littered item on the planet and they impact our local beaches. They offer no health benefits, and they release microplastics and toxins into our oceans, into our parks and into our neighborhoods.”
Santa Cruz Principal Administration Analyst Emeline Nguyen then described the yearslong effort to ban filtered tobacco merchandise within the metropolis and county, and the various neighborhood members and organizations concerned, together with Santa Cruz County, Taylor Lane and Ben Judkins of “Cigarette Surfboard” fame and Save Our Shores, amongst others. Nguyen talked about that there are 48 retailers within the metropolis that promote filtered tobacco merchandise, and that some voiced issues in regards to the proposed prohibition through the neighborhood conferences and surveys performed prior to now few years.
“In short, the data reflects a range of perspectives,” stated Nguyen. “Including both strong support for action and also specific concerns from affected businesses.”
Town’s youth liaison, Ben Sommerville, reported findings from a survey of scholars at Santa Cruz Excessive College about their use and ideas on filtered tobacco merchandise. By the survey, Sommerville found that almost all of scholars have been typically conversant in digital vaping merchandise that don’t require filters and weren’t as conversant in “cigarette culture.”
“Overall the data has shown that youth agree that tobacco product waste is an issue that needs to be addressed within the city and in our community,” stated Sommerville earlier than passing the presentation to Save Our Shares Government Director Katie Thompson.
Like Kalantari-Johnson, Thompson talked about that cigarette butts are essentially the most littered merchandise on the planet and that, through the a whole lot of seashore cleanups performed by Save Our Shores from 2013 to 2024, volunteers had collected practically 500,000 butts on Monterey Bay seashores and about 200,000 on seashores within the metropolis of Santa Cruz
“And these littered butts pose a threat to the health of our local marine environment,” stated Thompson. “The butts are made out of plastic and over 9,000 different chemicals. Over time, butts break down into microplastics, which leach into our environment. Microplastics have been found in all layers of the water column in Monterey Bay, posing a threat not only to the marine organisms but also to the humans that consume local seafood.”
Thomas E. Novotny, co-director of the Heart for Tobacco and the Setting at San Diego State College, then identified the excessive monetary prices related to cleansing up littered butts, which is estimated to be greater than $2 million yearly within the metropolis of Santa Cruz.
“We do think the best approach to these cleanups actually is to prevent them from being necessary,” stated Novotny. “Now, a ban on the sale of filtered cigarettes and filtered products here in Santa Cruz will be a step, not the answer, but it’s demonstrable leadership of a local community to make something happen.”
Following the presentation, neighborhood members got the possibility to voice their opinions. Some retailers have been current to specific their opposition to the ban reminiscent of native retailer proprietor Jimmy Burke, who steered putting a payment on the sale of filtered tobacco merchandise, which may very well be used to pay for cleanups just like San Francisco’s Cigarette Litter Abatement Price.
“The day the ban goes into effect, I’ll have someone outside my store with a backpack saying, ‘Hey, do you want to buy a pack of smokes?’” stated Burke. “There’s a lot of problems. Look at graffiti. That’s a big problem in Santa Cruz. Should we ban aerosol cans?”
Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of neighborhood members who spoke throughout public remark have been in favor of the ban, together with Ocean Conservancy Chief Scientist George Leonard.
“The truth is, you don’t need a Ph.D. to do the math here,” stated Leonard. “Only 6% of people in California smoke and 94% clean up the mess and that has to stop.”
Following public remark, members of the Metropolis Council voiced their assist of the measure and Kalantari-Johnson moved the merchandise. Santa Cruz Metropolis Councilmember Susie O’Hara provided two pleasant amendments: to direct metropolis workers to conduct an annual efficiency evaluate of the ban and direct the Well being in All Insurance policies committee to review a ban on all tobacco merchandise within the metropolis.
Kalantari-Johnson accepted the amendments and earlier than the merchandise went to a vote, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley drew parallels to the hassle to stop offshore oil drilling in Monterey Bay a long time in the past. He famous the work of native environmentalists reminiscent of former director of Save Our Shores and the O’Neill Sea Odyssey, Dan Haifley, who was within the chambers, which was revisited by the council earlier within the assembly.
“At that time, Dan was hired by a coalition of local governments to go from the northern part of the state down to the Central Coast and further down to get every city along the coast to adopt a model ordinance, which said we understand that we can’t prohibit offshore oil drilling, but what we can do is prohibit onshore support facilities,” stated Keeley. “There was a wall that was built of local ordinances from top to the middle down to the southern part of the state and that was a very effective strategy.”
The Metropolis Council accredited the primary studying of the ordinance in a unanimous vote, with Santa Cruz Metropolis Councilmember Gabriela Trigueiro absent. The second and closing studying of the ordinance will happen on the council’s June 24 assembly.If handed, the ban will go into impact Jan. 1, 2027.
To observe the assembly, go to cityofsantacruz.com.
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