Smokefree Outdoor Dining in the City of San Diego

Project Updates

September 3, 2024:

☑️ We identified all of the restaurants in the City of San Diego.

☑️ We took a random sample of 300 of these restaurants.

☑️ We called the 300 restaurants to see if they had outdoor dining.

☑️ We asked the 171 restaurants who had outdoor dining if people can smoke or vape on the patio. 61 of them did.

Everyone deserves to eat out in a clean environment, but currently not all outdoor dining areas in San Diego are smokefree. The Policy Center wants to show policymakers why a citywide smokefree outdoor dining policy can protect restaurant workers and patrons.

We will conduct four Rapid Response Projects to answer these questions:

1. Does the City of San Diego support a smokefree outdoor dining policy?

We will conduct a flash poll of San Diego residents.

2. How do stakeholders feel about a citywide smokefree outdoor dining policy?

We will interview restaurant owners and workers, hospitality employees, and City Council members.

3. Are restaurant workers and patrons exposed to second- and thirdhand smoke?

We will collect surface, air, and hand samples at restaurants in the City of San Diego.

4. Are there other successful smokefree outdoor dining policies in San Diego County?

We will review existing policies in other cities in San Diego County, and we will interview representatives from city governments, the County Board of Supervisors, and selected CTCP-funded programs.

Deliverables:

  1. An infographic of flash poll and interview results
  2. A brief report summarizing the results of environmental sampling
  3. Presentations for community and advocacy organizations seeking a broad public smoking ban in San Diego
  4. A locally-adapted model policy based on Public Health Law Center model language and the survey results