Add Manhattan Beach, Calif. to the list of places you will soon be no longer welcome to enjoy a cigar in public, as on Tuesday night the City Council directed staff to develop plans to implement a citywide smoking ban for public places. According to a report on TBRNews.com, the plan is expected to come back before the council in April, and will ban smoking on public property, streets, alleys, sidewalks and parking lots, as well as on the outdoor dining areas of restaurants. The move does not create a ban on smoking on private property, however. Sona Kalapura Coffee, the city’s environmental programs manager, said that the program is designed to be self-enforcing and that there won’t be police walking around looking for people smoking. However, the rules change will come with penalties for those who do violate the ban. While the specific amount has yet to be determined, the article cited a range of fines between $100 and $250 as possibilities.
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