Hayward CA, to define Vape as “Smoke” Ban usage in Parks, add Fees & Inspections, New Regs, Goal to CLOSE Vape shops. Urgency Ordinance Meeting 1/14/

[tombaker]

Hayward CA, to define vape as “Smoke” Ban usage inParks, add Fees & Inspections, plans new Regs, Urgency Ordinance Next Meeting 1/14/2014

Hayward CA, a San Francisco Bay area city, has been in the process of acting upon this for months, I just found it. I have been warning about the lack of real danger from the FDA, the over focus on vaper resources on the FDA, that the FDAwill be handled by Sottera, V2, BLU, and the much of the Stickies contain factually wrong information about the FDA, and what it can do. Locating this was part of my factual research. I did not continue searching.

These are very real impacts, Stores getting pushed out of business, the FDA is years away of any impacts like this worse case scenerio....and the FDA is saying everything now, they said 2 years ago....broken watch might be right twice a day, or it could be so broken it has no face to read.......The FDA may do nothing on E-Cigs......ban them from Kids as an offical policy......MEANWHILE local stuff like this is eating up all the rights, and destroy stores. Sometimes the lead lemming is well intentionally leading everyone off the cliff.....

I am linking it all up, no need to believe me.

Summary:
Hayward published its presentations from the Dec 17 meeting. The plan to ask for it to be approved on1-14-2014. Where they are
1. Asking for a moratorium new E-Cigarettes shops, specifically to stop the ones that are requesting clearance and being built. Start at Page13 http://www.hayward-ca.gov/CITY-GOVERNMENT/CITY-COUNCIL-MEETINGS/2014/CCA14PDF/cca011414.pdf

2. Treat all things E-Cigs as the same as cigarettes and tobacco. See page 15

3. Ban E-Cigs stores from being within 500 feet of each other. Allow large Retail stores like Walgreens to be exempt.

4. Define an E-Cig as not needing Nicotine to be an E-Cig. Page 16

5. And the BIG ONE. Define Vapor as “Smoke” Page 16

"Smoke”means the gases, particles, or vapors released into the air as a result of combustion,electrical ignition or vaporization, when the apparent or usual purpose of the combustion,electrical ignition or vaporization is human inhalation of the byproducts, except when the combusting or vaporizing material contains no tobacco or nicotine and the purpose of inhalation is solely olfactory, such as, for example, smoke from incense.

The term “Smoke” includes, but is not limited to, tobacco smoke, and electronic cigarette vapors."

1. Cites Union City’s ban on E-Cig shops as basis Page 18

7.Next Big one, is a logical and stated path to closing all the existing Vapor Stores

PotentialImpacts to Businesses - There are currently one hundred and forty-six licensed tobacco retailers in the City of Haywardand six (6) electronic cigarette establishments. These existing establishments would become legal non-conforming uses under the proposed regulations and would be allowed to continue to operate in accordance with the Section 10-1.2900 of the City’s Zoning Ordinance – Non-Conforming Uses. Per the Non-Conforming Use provision of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, these retailers would be allowed to continue operation as a tobacco retail sales establishment, as long as the non-conforming use is not expanded or has not been discontinued for a period of six consecutive months or more. Thus, non-conforming tobacco sales locations would gradually cease operating

Thereis plenty of more contained in it. <<<<---->>>> There is one vapor shop that spoke out against it, but apparently they are not advertising themselves as asking for help to anyone. This has been in the works since at least 2012, lots of action in 2013…..to my knowledge and checks, nowhere on any radarof ANYONE, if I am wrong, happy to admit it.

It’s all on the Agenda for 1-14-2014 See here.

http://www.hayward-ca.gov/CITY-GOVERNMENT/CITY-COUNCIL-MEETINGS/2014/CCA14PDF/cca011414.pdf

In writing this up, I first thought the Vape is Smoke part was the worst…..but that is just the vehicle for the stated goal of closing down the existing Vape shops.

I mean it is STATED as the endgoal. “Thus, non-conforming tobaccosales locations would gradually cease operating.”


This guy on the record PAGE 21, is pleading for help, and to stop the madness.
The owners of one of the electronic cigarette stores in Hayward reiterated their dismay, expressed
previously at the October 2, 2013 Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) meeting,
regarding the inclusion of electronic cigarettes in the proposed regulations, arguing that electronic
cigarettes are not a tobacco product. They went on to state that they are “anti-tobacco” and in the
business of helping people quit tobacco.




I can test hardware if asked

 

[AegisPrime]

That's a 4-page PDF that doesn't have anything more than the proposed moratorium on it.

Adoption of Interim Urgency Ordinance Imposing a Temporary Moratorium on the Development, Establishment and Operation of New Small-Format and Large-Scale Tobacco Retailers and all New E-Cigarette Retailers, Electronic Cigarette Lounges, Vapor Bars, and Hookah Bars within the City of Hayward. The Adoption of the Ordinance is Exempt from Environmental Review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21065 and State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15061(b)(3), 15306 and 15378

*Edit* this report has more information on the moratorium, starting on page 42.

Furthermore, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the safety of e-cigarettes is still unknown, and initial studies have found carcinogens and toxic chemicals in the vapor, including ingredients used to make anti-freeze

They're just parroting this crap everywhere

*Edit 2* This is the Dec 17th report with the offending paragraph re: definition of 'smoke' (page 15)

Another nice 'urban myth' parroted:

The attached CDC study states on page 2, “E-cigarette experimentation and recent use doubled among U.S. middle and high school students during 2011-2012, resulting in an estimated 1.78 million students having ever used e-cigarettes as of 2012. Moreover, in 2012, an estimated 160,000 students who reported ever using e-cigarettes had never used conventional cigarettes.”

 

[Sundodger]

Well after two days I guess tom finally came up with something, I'll give him that.

But my opinion (and it's just that) is a good post or speech is like a woman's dress:

Long enough to cover the subject, yet short enough to get my attention.

In other words I really don't need chest pumping, just the facts and links. Just my opinion.

 

[cmknight]

Agreed, Sundodger. Paragraphs 2 and 3 were totally unnecessary, tombaker. You could have just stated the information about the ordinance meeting without all of the rubbish before it.

Two things which bother me about this proposed ordinance are #'s 4 and 5. The inclusion of 0-nic as an e-cig, and the redefining of the term "smoke". Basically, IMHO, this has the potential to cause problems with FDA approved nicotine inhalers and asthma inhalers under the new "smoke" definition, and, an e-cig (PV/APV) without nicotine, is NOT a tobacco product, period.

 

[rothenbj]

Four days notice? That doesn't give much organization time. How about something with at least a week or two lead time.

 

[Berylanna]

The group of high-school kids begging Union City to save the lives of their friends, per another vaper who listened more-closely to them, from HAYWARD.

tombaker, I've been tracking this for MONTHS at the behest of CASAA, and coordinating with CASAA on this. I'm glad you found the Hayward issue, I'll forward it to CASAA. The board, which is 9 people with day jobs, will not be able to be heavily involved at the city level except for L.A., so they are counting on us to fight locally.

The problem we're seeing is that scientific arguments do not appear to carry even a single gram of weight at the city level in the face of earnest, brainwashed, teenagers testifying. The kids are getting their information mostly from CTFK, a creation wholly of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funded by millions and millions of $$ of Johnson & Johnson stock. RWJF was founded by the founder of J&J. They make nicoderm. All ordinances they ghost-write exempt ALL FDA-approved devices, including inhalers, from the regulations. Big surprise there.

 

[tombaker]

tombaker, I've been tracking this for MONTHS at the behest of CASAA, and coordinating with CASAA on this. I'm glad you found the Hayward issue, I'll forward it to CASAA.........The problem we're seeing is that scientific arguments do not appear to carry even a single gram of weight at the city level in the face of earnest, brainwashed, teenagers testifying.

I am confused if CASAA has been tracking it, why its not on their site anywhere. The December meeting was a pretty detailed presentation of what they will be doing. Defining Vape as Smoke, stopping all new shops, working to close the existing. It is unclear if any more than one of the shops was aware of the what was being lined up against them.

If CASAA is choosing to not communicate this information out, I would be flabbergasted. Hayward is 150K population, with easy access to 1 million more people with a 10-15 quick car drive.

The background paperwork they did on this is a bit more teenagers, its lined up pretty well for the intended purpose of convince a city council to rule. Its certainly not contested. Would it not be easiest if already monitoring, to just communicate it out, so it is on the radars of the locals, and especially the actual vaper shops???????????

 

[tombaker]

Agreed, Sundodger. Paragraphs 2 and 3 were totally unnecessary, tombaker. You could have just stated the information about the ordinance meeting without all of the rubbish before it.

I felt it necessary, and continue to do so. Calling the significantly more impactful effects of local goverment in the near term compared to the minimal effect the FDA can do under the 2009 law, after being defanged by the Sottera decision, and with all the Major E-Cig players V2, BLU and Sottera with huge fundage and staff lawyers to thwart FDA over-reach...all that as Rubbish? Sorry no, the local level is where nearly the entire fight is going on...bunch of people are standing guard somewhere else, Lined up away from the battles, waiting for the FDA to act. They have been off the mark for 3 full years since the loss to Sottera......meanwhile the locals are rolling over Vapers, city after city. Rubbish? I think not.

 

[Vaslovik]

So what they did was to redefine vapor as smoke. Wow, just.... wow....

If you want to make a lie into a law you just change the meaning of words. That seems to be how it's done these days.

 

[cmknight]

"I have been warning about the lack of real danger from the FDA, the over focus on vaper resources on the FDA, that the FDAwill be handled by Sottera, V2, BLU, and the much of the Stickies contain factually wrong information about the FDA, and what it can do."

"... the FDA is years away of any impacts like this worse case scenerio....and the FDA is saying everything now, they said 2 years ago....broken watch might be right twice a day, or it could be so broken it has no face to read.......The FDA may do nothing on E-Cigs......ban them from Kids as an offical policy ..."

Exactly. The proposed mandate is what's necessary, not all the "I have done this", and "I have warned about that" grandstanding. Get off the podium. You've had your turn.

 

[Berylanna]

I am confused if CASAA has been tracking it, why its not on their site anywhere. The December meeting was a pretty detailed presentation of what they will be doing. Defining Vape as Smoke, stopping all new shops, working to close the existing. It is unclear if any more than one of the shops was aware of the what was being lined up against them.

If CASAA is choosing to not communicate this information out, I would be flabbergasted. Hayward is 150K population, with easy access to 1 million more people with a 10-15 quick car drive.

The background paperwork they did on this is a bit more teenagers, its lined up pretty well for the intended purpose of convince a city council to rule. Its certainly not contested. Would it not be easiest if already monitoring, to just communicate it out, so it is on the radars of the locals, and especially the actual vaper shops???????????

We've been tracking Union City, the people who spoke there, the fact that their ordinance is going to be touted as a model, the fact that the immediate Bay Area and LA Area are under attack. Noticed South San Francisco. Hayward's December meeting, no. Hence the thanks for the heads-up.

150K population is teensy compared to the areas the 9 people with day jobs have had time to concentrate on, like NYC, Chicago, L.A., Oklahoma, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts. And, as I discovered in other cities, Mayors really REALLY resent hearing from outside the local area codes, they view it, properly IMO, as outside interference. But if you live near there, please PM me, I'm trying to get a Bay Area contact list of my own where we all share contact info.

I've only noticed...whatever I notice plus what CASAA sends out to people on the California list. CASAA just switched providers, so the work they've put in on their site has been in the area of getting it moved without breaking it, rather than improving it. I agree with CASAA's main leadership that spamming everyone about every city would be counterproductive, so I think it would be good if they can create another drop-down on the site that has that U.S. map and city alerts, or all alerts, so that the main page of the site can continue to have the state and big-city alerts only.

Maybe you can find the guy with the map (he's on ECF's legislative page I think) and volunteer with him to help CASAA get his map up on their site? (Actually, I have not searched casaa.org lately, apologies if it's already up there.)

Also, I'd love to know how you found this Hayward thing so fast. Someone else on ECF said they signed up with Google to get alerts about articles with "e-cigarette" in the headline and that adds up to a couple of hours a day of reading. NO WAY do I have the bandwidth to do that. Can you give me hints as to your search terms, or whatever? Kristin and Julie both said they'd also love to find things out further ahead of time than they often do.

Bottom line: unlike the BP folks who are fighting AGAINST e-cigs, NOBODY IS PAYING anybody in CASAA to do this, everybody has day jobs. So I'd like to help the board by giving them more notice of things, and I could use a hint as to how to do that, or rather, how to get my Mac to do that, so I can send the board earlier heads'-up.

 

[rothenbj]

Would it not be easiest if already monitoring, to just communicate it out, so it is on the radars of the locals, and especially the actual vaper shops???????????

Is it not amazing that the actual vapor shops that exist in town are unaware of the legislation that is endangering their livelihood? Have none of their customers seen or heard about what's happening within the city limits and conveyed that information to their suppliers? How is it not on the radar of those locals?

Tom, you've identified yourself as the savior of these towns and villages. Put together your volunteer task force and go for it. I personally keep an eye on what's happening in my state and in my local community. I'll be more than happy to make you aware of any activity in my area. Enlist the 100's of thousands other watchdogs and set up a reporting structure, set up the talking points and do you plan on having a team that will go out and fight these local battles?

 

[rothenbj]

Bery, isn't it funny that opponents to proposed legislation from outside sources are frowned upon, but bringing in the marketing arm of legislative change, the ?non-profit?"health" associations are welcomed with open arms.

 

[Berylanna]

Bery, isn't it funny that opponents to proposed legislation from outside sources are frowned upon, but bringing in the marketing arm of legislative change, the ?non-profit?"health" associations are welcomed with open arms.

They don't know. Really. I've been to the meetings. They really don't know.

I don't know what's going on in MY city. Only if I happen to read the flyers they send out. But I'm SO old that even being totally uninvolved I've still been to enough meetings since my Dad was on the school board when I was a kid that I've seen how city councils and other local gov'ts respond to people in the room who come to speak. (I mean the kind where you don't even know what party the Mayor et al are from, not the kind of cities where you can go from Mayor to State Senator like Feinstein.)

I would love a little tutoring on how to actually keep better track, maybe a web tool or something, and also how come, as you say, the "health associations" can represent themselves as being FROM their town and the vapers cannot? And how can we counter that?

 

[JustJulie]

At the board level, CASAA primarily tracks state and federal legislation. It's simply too difficult to try to search out local legislation. Instead, we rely on our membership to notify us when local issues occur. Frankly, they're in a better position to learn of local issues that pop up on the nightly news or in local newspapers.

Moreover, we're finding that the number of local issues popping up is increasing at an incredible pace. Even when given notice, it takes time to not only vet the issue, but then also prepare the Local Alert and then prepare an email alert to our members in that state.

When a member becomes aware of a potential local issue, they should contact CASAA@board.org and give us as many details as possible, including links to newspaper articles and newscasts, as well as any details on the time/date/meeting and contact information for the decisionmakers. (In providing the contact information, we ask that the information be provided in text form, with a link to a website so that we can confirm.) This allows us to more easily prepare a Local Alert, if appropriate.

When we issue a Local Alert, we blog it, share it in social media, and send emails to the CASAA members in the state. We often find that we get very little notice on these issues, sometimes because something slipped by us, but also because the ANTZ are getting quite a bit more clever about presenting things with little or no notice. (See the Chicago Call to Action for an example of what I'm talking about: CASAA: URGENT CTA Chicago E-Cigarette Usage Ban 1-13-14 )

I'm going to be honest: From a board standpoint, we recognize that local issues are important, not only to the people who live in the area, but in terms of the cause itself because what happens in one area quickly spreads to others, gaining momentum. However, we simply don't have enough time and manpower to do everything we'd like to do, and so local issues are going to have to be spearheaded by locals, both in terms of finding the issues, getting the information together, and then responding to the Local Alert once it's issued.

Julie Woessner (CASAA Legislative Director)

 

[kristin]

I think it would be good if they can create another drop-down on the site that has that U.S. map and city alerts, or all alerts, so that the main page of the site can continue to have the state and big-city alerts only.

Jan, we actually did some updates on the site and blog, so people can find CTAs and Local Alerts in their area by going to CASAA.org. There are two ways to see them 1) The CTAs are in a feed on the right side of the home page and there is a link to the Local Alerts right below them OR 2) Click the "Get Involved" tab at the top of the page and there are links to both the CTA and Local Alerts feeds. If people want to search a specific area, they can do a site search using the search box on the BLOG, click a word in the Tag Word Search at the bottom of the blog (just below the last post on a page) or click the Calls To Action & Local Alerts links on the right side of any page on the blog.

As far as getting earlier notice of things in your area, there are usually 3 ways: 1) watch the media for any stories regarding e-cigarettes or tobacco. Set up news alerts through your web browser to get them right to your email box. 2) sign up on city and state government sites for notifications. Wisconsin has a notification system, so I'm sure California must have one. Local governments are usually a little less easy to watch online, so if they don't have a notification system you can join, you can 3) contact representatives and city council folks and develop a correspondence with them. Let them know you are concerned about these issues and would appreciate hearing any news regarding these issues. They may be willing to let you know personally or may be able to give you advice on how to be alerted when something of interest comes up.

One other thing would be to contact local vendors and ask them to alert you right away if they get any letters or notices. They are usually the first to hear of these things because the city/county sends them notices affecting their business.

 

[Berylanna]

Jan, we actually did some updates on the site and blog, so people can find CTAs and Local Alerts in their area by going to CASAA.org. There are two ways to see them 1) The CTAs are in a feed on the right side of the home page and there is a link to the Local Alerts right below them OR 2) Click the "Get Involved" tab at the top of the page and there are links to both the CTA and Local Alerts feeds. If people want to search a specific area, they can do a site search using the search box on the BLOG, click a word in the Tag Word Search at the bottom of the blog (just below the last post on a page) or click the Calls To Action & Local Alerts links on the right side of any page on the blog.

Fantastic! Good to see them both up but a little separated. I wasn't trying to criticize, I'd like to see more folks who "want casaa to ....." realize that WE ARE CASAA.

One other thing would be to contact local vendors and ask them to alert you right away if they get any letters or notices. They are usually the first to hear of these things because the city/county sends them notices affecting their business.

I can't even FIND my local vendors, they don't show up on Google/Yahoo yet!

 

[umarbutt610]

Damn...we have come a long way to kinda get the e-cigs legalize. I hope no such things ban because of some stupid laws and just playing with it to help some corporate giants keep on making money selling much harmful products.

 

[aikanae1]

In other issue networks I've seen local groups/meets select representatives or coordinators that volunteer to stay abreast of local events and act as go betweens. It would be nice if local vape clubs could get that organized - maybe if CASAA requested it?

 

[Berylanna]

In other issue networks I've seen local groups/meets select representatives or coordinators that volunteer to stay abreast of local events and act as go betweens. It would be nice if local vape clubs could get that organized - maybe if CASAA requested it?

My understanding is that CASAA is asking EVERYBODY to let them know if something comes up in your city, county, or state.

board AT casaa . org

Being empowered to communicate OUTWARD from CASAA is another matter. They are working on it. But I've been paying careful attention to the "rules" and still mess up, hence right now NOBODY but the Board is empowered to speak for CASAA. When I go to meetings I go as a citizen. When I take flyers and casaa cards to vendors (I only found 3 and I KNOW there are more out there!) I go as myself, a MEMBER of casaa who does NOT represent casaa.

(There is a LOT in the rules and I have not been trained, don't even know if they're written down. But they appear to include being polite, not throwing other smokeless tobacco under the bus (smokeless means SMOKELESS, not tobacco-free), not throwing smokers under the bus regarding smoking in very well-ventilated spaces, i.e. stick to the science not the public propaganda. SUPPORT bans of selling to minors if the ordinance in question is not booby-trapped. Actually, support the ban and ask them to remove the booby-trap. There's lots more.)