COME FRIDAY, CIGARETTES IN CALABASAS GO UP IN SMOKE NATION'S TOUGHEST BAN RAISES DEBATE.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

CALABASAS - For smokers in Calabasas, the drag begins Friday.

Smokers may raise a pint on Saint Patrick's Day but not light up in public after the launch of the toughest secondhand smoke ban in the nation.

``We just don't want anyone blowing smoke in someone's face,'' said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Washburn, a city founder who assumes his fourth term as mayor on Wednesday. ``Unfortunately, what smokers do is harmful to everybody else.

``People should have the right to breathe clean air.''

The city's secondhand smoke law is the first in the nation to ban smoking in any public area where others can whiff cigarette or cigar smoke - including sidewalks, parks, outdoor businesses, restaurant patios and condo commons.

Those waiting to exhale must do so in designated smoking areas at shopping malls, or at work, or smoke 20 feet from a beaten path.

If a nonsmoker asks a smoker to butt it, he or she must snuff it or face a fine.

``We salute Calabasas for raising the bar,'' said Jim Knox, a legislative advocate for the American Cancer Society in Sacramento. ``Smoke regulations can play a very important role in reducing public exposure to harmful secondhand smoke.''

Last month, California air-quality regulators declared secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant. The Calabasas ordinance cited 52,000 non-smokers killed each year by secondhand smoke, including 3,000 from lung cancer.

On Monday, however, a cloud hung over businesses across this upscale northwest San Fernando Valley city.

Four days before the secondhand smoke control ordinance goes into effect, not one business had applied for its designated smoking area, according to Calabasas Planner Tom Bartlett.

Restaurant managers shook their heads at the loss of potential business to neighboring cities.

While nonsmokers eagerly awaited the citywide smoke-free zone, smokers cringed at the thought of citizen smoke police.

``It sucks,'' said Arman Hovanesyan, fleet sales manager for Calabasas Volvo, unaware of the pending ordinance as he cupped a Marlboro Light outside.

``By the time a deputy comes, I'll be gone.''

Ashtrays ringed the Commons at Calabasas, where no special smoking area had been designated. A security guard said he will not enforce the ban.

Outside Barnes & Noble, booksellers took their final drags, skeptical of an ordinance that protects not only common breezeways, but bans smoking near oaks and other protected trees.

``What surprises me is the people that bitch about your smoking - after coming over to sit next to you,'' said Jeff, a clerk, as he sucked on a Parliament. ``It's like, c'mon dude, smoke disappears in the outdoors.

``You're not going to get cancer outdoors. I just think (the ban) is ridiculous.''

Berge Apardian, a 25-year-old hospital worker outside a Starbucks, praised the smokers area as a worthwhile idea. ``I wouldn't want to be sitting next to somebody smoking,'' he said.

Silvia Favela, strolling with her 5-month-old daughter Natalia, said the public ban on smoking will be a boon for public health.

``At Starbucks, all these people are smoking and they don't even care there's a child there,'' said Favela, 33, of Calabasas.

``You don't want to feel you're in a nightclub - you want to enjoy your surroundings, the birds, the fish, the fresh air.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com