1 From
: April Smith <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 6, 2019 6:28 AM
To: Nicol, Colleen <[email protected]>
Subject: [External] Help ban smoking in multi‐housing communities in Riverside County Dear City Manager Al Z
elinka,
Family is everything to me. That’s why I’m asking for your support to help ban smoking in multi-housing communities in Riverside. Our families’ lives depend on it.
Unwittingly, we are being exposed to secondhand smoke and that’s leading to serious health issues like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. It’s even been proven that secondhand smoke can cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and low birth weight.
And did you know that the U.S. Surgeon General reports there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke? And that, on average, children are exposed to more secondhand smoke than adults? It’s a very scary situation, one that we can’t solve from without your help.
So I urge you to please use your influence to help our community. Take action TODAY to help create and pass a city-wide policy that will help us breathe easier and have a healthier future.
Regards,
April Smith
5310 Canyon Crest Dr
Riverside, CA 92507
cc Mayor
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CEDD Director
1 From: Bob Garcia <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 9:27 PM
To: CityClerkMbx <[email protected]>
Subject: [External] Smoke Free Housing
Hello! My name is Bob Garcia, and I am a Community Member in the Community of Casa Blanca.
I would like to share my input with you on why I support smoke free housing. As a child growing up, and into my adult years my father was a chain smoker, as well as aunts and un cles. They all smoked inside our household for many years, and I always questioned why we, my siblings and I, were always Ill from Colds, Coughs, Sore throats, and laryngitis, and had to see our physicians throughout the years. As time went by, aunts, un cles and my father as well passed which had to partly from smoking. When my father passed I contacted his physician with plenty of questions about what caused my father's passing. The response from the physician was my father's continuous heavy smoking, was mainly to what caused him to have strokes throughou t the years. My father lived until the age of 69. As a Diabetic, smoking is bad for Diabetics, as cigarettes have sugar in each cigarette. My mother and I continued with the illnesses until our home was fumigated, which assisted in taking out the years of accu mulation of the smoke odor throughout our household. As for two of my Siblings, they had heart attacks which was partially from smoking as well. My mother lived up to the age of 88, even though she lived in our home with my father being a chain smoker, and lived an additional 22 ye ars after my father's passing from other internal illnesses. Myself, I do not smoke, and if I have visitors and/ or relatives who smoke visiting, I kindly ask them to smoke outdoors, because it affects the lungs and internal organs.
Thank You for accepting my reasoning for a non smo king home or other forms of living arrangements for families in my community and throughout.
Respectfully,
With Peace, Prayers, and Blessings,
Bob/Bobby Garcia
cc Mayor
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1 From: Zelinka, Al <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 2:42 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Arseo, Eva <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [External] Please support a city‐wide smoke‐free multi‐unit housing policy Ms. Terriquez – Thank you for your email. As it concerned the City of Moreno Valley, I forwarded it to the City Manager of Moreno Valley, Mike Lee. Thank you for communicating your message with the City of Riv erside. Via this response, I will kindly ask our Interim City Clerk, Eva Arseo, to share this communication and your message as a public comment with the City of Riverside Mayor and City Council. Thank you, Al Zelinka, City Manager, City of Riverside From: Jennie Terriquez <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 2:12 PM
To: Arseo, Eva <[email protected]>
Subject: [External] Please support a city‐wide smoke‐free multi‐unit housing policy Dear City Manager Al Zelinka,
There’s a crucial issue that’s affecting the health of my family and many others in Moreno Valley, and I think you need to get involved. It’s secondhand smoking in multi‐unit housing.
The U.S
. General Surgeon has reported that there is NO safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, children that are exposed to secondhand smoke have a greater risk of developing lung diseases like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. The Surgeon General Report has also stated that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is ca used by secondhand smoke.
Yet, Moreno Valley doesn’t have local ordinances in place to protect our families from secondhand smoke in multi‐unit housing!
You have the influence to change this, so I ask you to please support a city‐wide smoke free multi‐unit housing policy TODAY. Our children deser ve a better chance to live healthier lives, free from secondhand smoke Regards,
Jennie Terriquez
26183 Ferndale Ct
Moreno Valley, CA 92555 cc Mayor
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1 From: Pranisha Gautam [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 10:04 PM
To: 2Mayor <[email protected]>
Subject: [External] Concerned about toxic secondhand smoke Dear Mayor Rusty Bailey,
I’m concerned about the rapidly escalating amount of toxic secondhand smoke in the air from vaping, marijuana, and cigarettes. It’s practically everywhere like in places such as public parks, restaurant patios, shopping centers, transit stops, recreational faciliites, and sidewalks. The problem is only getting worse in large part to the rise of vaping and marijuana use in California. According to the California Adult Tobacco Survey, e‐cigarette secondhand exposure increased more than 65% in two years, and marijuana secondhand smoke nearly doubled! As you may already know, the U.S. Surgeon General has said there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. This is the reason I’d like to encourage you to enact new and stricter smokefree policies in public and private spaces across our community.
As a resident of our city, I believe everyone has the right to breathe clean air. Yet I find myself constantly exposed to toxic secondhand smoke. Any exposure can be harmful, especially to children, older adults, and people with a disability.
The consequences of secondhand smoke exposure are severe and can lead to fatal health issues such as cancer, stroke, serious respiratory illnesses and heart disease.
I’m asking for your leadership in addressing the rise of secondhand smoke in our city. You have my full support to limit the number of places people are allowed to smoke and I encourage the enforcement of such rules. I think we can all agree that it would make our city a healthier, more enjoyable place to call home.
Sincerely,
Pranisha Gautam
cc Mayor
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November 5, 2020
Mayor Rusty Bailey and Riverside City Council
City of Riverside
3900 Main Street
Riverside, CA 92522
Dear Mayor Bailey and Riverside City Council:
As Dean of the UC Riverside School of Medicine I am writing to provide my expertise in support of the goal to achieve 100% smoke-free multi-unit housing in the City of Riverside.
The UCR School of Medicine is deeply invested in helping improve the health of the medically underserved in the Inland Empire, we concur with the U.S. Surgeon General that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. In 2006, the California Air Resources Board classified secondhand smoke as a “Toxic Air Contaminant” in the same category as asbestos, cyanide and arsenic – all of which can lead to serious illness and death. Nonsmoking residents of multi-unit housing complexes who choose to make their units smoke-free may still be exposed to secondhand smoke that travels through shared air vents and ducts, cracks in walls, gaps around electrical wiring, and through floorboards. Many multi-unit residents are affected by secondhand smoke, especially children, elderly, and people with existing health conditions such as asthma, COPD, and heart disease.
Further, I recognize the need to provide increased access to smoking cessation programs, especially for existing residents. In addition, I support measures to ensure that vulnerable populations and communities of color are not impacted in a disproportionate way by any fines and/or enforcement that may be necessary to support an ordinance.
A citywide ordinance that would require all multi-unit housing in the City of Riverside to be smoke-free would be a step in the right direction to improved health for our communities. By prohibiting smoking in 100% of units, we can protect residents from the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke. By also addressing increased access to smoking cessation programs, and ensuring fair and equitable enforcement, we can truly improve the health of our entire community.
Th
ank you for your consideration.
Sin
cerely,
De
borah Deas, MD, MPH
Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences
Mark and Pam Rubin Dean
cc Mayor
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