A majority of Vancouver park commissioners favour a partial ban on smoking on the city's public beaches and parks.

In separate interviews with the Georgia Straight , four commissioners–NPA chair Ian Robertson, COPE's Spencer Herbert and Loretta Woodcock, and independent Allan De Genova–said they will support a move to designate certain smoking areas but not a total ban.

A fifth–the NPA's Marty Zlotnik–declared that he will even go so far as voting for a complete prohibition. But the question, according to Zlotnik, is who would put forward a motion for such a ban? "I'm not doing it," he said. "I'm not the guy who's gonna lead the charge. If [the] park board decided that they wanted to vote in favour of that, I would probably vote in favour of that because I don't think smoking is a good thing for anybody."

Several communities in California have banished cigarettes from their beaches, starting with the City of Solana Beach in 2003. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on February 6 this year that San Mateo County outlawed smoking in its 17 parks and trails and lone beach.

Woodcock said that she has received complaints about cigarette butts littering beaches and getting stuck between people's toes. "They find it unhygienic," Woodcock said. "It takes away from the ambience of the beach. I see the problem more not so much the smoke bothering people as the cleanliness of the beaches. I think we should do a pilot and say this stretch of area is a smoke-free area."

The city employs one sand-sifting machine to clean up beaches of debris, from soda cans to glass bottles to cigarette butts, according to Robert Leupen, supervisor for downtown park maintenance and beaches. Leupen told the Straight that although there may be quite a few butts out there, staff doesn't have a way of quantifying such litter.

Beachgoer Peggy Kazandjin told the Straight at Kitsilano Beach: "Smoking is bad, but everybody should have the right to do what they want to do, especially in the summer on the beach. Especially in Vancouver, where it rains three-fourths of the year–this is our time to shine."

Park chair Robertson said he doesn't believe that beaches and parks should be off-limits to smokers. "What I might be supportive of is testing," he said. "In other words, there may be a particular area of the beach that a family could go and know that in that area there is no smoking."

He also noted that in the case of parks, smoking could pose a fire hazard, especially during summer.

At present, beachgoers are only requested to refrain from lighting up; if they do, they are encouraged not to leave their butts behind.

De Genova noted that areas outside beach and park washrooms could be used as smoking zones. Herbert said a total ban is not the way to go. He noted that the designation of smoking zones could strike a compromise between people who can't go without a puff or two and those who dislike the whiff of secondhand smoke along with the sea air.

Herbert, however, worries about the larger social implication of curtailing outdoor smoking. "I'm just wondering just how far we should regulate society," he said. "When is it our responsibility as individuals to look around and go, 'There's children nearby and I shouldn't be smoking here,' or people taking responsibility to stand up for themselves. The question is, where do we draw the line?"

NPA commissioner Korina Houghton told the Straight that even a partial ban may not work. "We don't have the manpower and the resources to enforce it," Houghton said.

Since 1996, Vancouver restaurants, indoor public areas, and workplaces have been smoke-free. In 2000, the city banned smoking in bars.