[Hugh R]

SF is fundamentally different than LA in geography. LA is surrounded by mountains and gets an inversion layer to hold the air pollution in. SF doesn't. The fundamental problem with air pollution, is that without regulation its free to pollute and others sufffer. Your dirty filty fireplace/old smoking beater pollutes the air that everyone else breathes. I'm fiscally pretty conservative, but my Bachelors is in environmental engineering. You shouldn't be able to dump waste in the river behind your factory because its flows down stream to someone else's property. Same with air pollution. LA used to have 100 Stage 1 smog alerts per year in the 60's and 70's, today it has zero to 1 per year, and there are a lot more people living here. Did you know that Denver has Stage 1 and 2 smog alerts all the time from fireplaces? Oh, I worked in air pollution control for about 20 years, so maybe I'm a little biased. I'll bet some of you would object to your neighbors kids rock band playing loudly in the garage at 2AM, keeping you awake. How is it different you (collectively) putting a cloud of soot and ash in my house from everyone in certain areas burning wood in fireplaces. Not saying fireplaces are bad everywhere, but in some areas, they may not be appropriate. I see the problem in the Los Angeles air basin, but not so in SF, due to the climate and the geography.