Editorial:

When the American Lung Assn. of California issued its annual report card Tuesday, ranking 88 Los Angeles County cities on their efforts to combat secondhand smoke, it looked like a breakthrough for Glendale and a disappointment for Burbank.

Glendale, fresh off its newly implemented smoking ordinance, emerged as the only city to score an A in 2008, while Burbank, one of three cities to get the top rank last year, fell to a B.

But in a way, the 2008 report card was a victory for Burbank as much as it was for Glendale. The city may have scored lower this year, but according to a spokesman for the American Lung Assn., Glendale’s surge — not to mention Pasadena’s banning of smoke during the Tournament of Roses Parade — might never have happened if not for Burbank’s example.

“Burbank kind of set the mark for everybody last year,” said Steven Gallegos, the association’s smoke-free advocacy and programs manager. “As a result of what they did, the cities of Glendale and Pasadena followed suit. So it was actually Burbank’s leadership that gave the courage to Glendale and Pasadena to adopt similar policies.

“It’s just that Glendale went a little further.”

Burbank’s depleted score in 2008 should be taken more as a result of new grading criteria than a sign that the city’s anti-tobacco efforts have slipped. Last year, the first time the association issued its report card, cities were graded in three main categories: clean outdoor air, which counted for 60% of the grade, and policies regarding multiunit housing and tobacco retail licensing, each of which counted for 20%.

This year, the evaluators used a new system in which each category counted for one third of the total — and since Burbank got a D both years in keeping smoke out of housing complexes, that mark hurt more than it did in 2007. Glendale managed a B in that category this year, since, according to Gallegos, the city had a few strong housing policies but stopped short of requiring that rooms be smoke-free.

It’s clear, then, that both Glendale and Burbank have room for improvement. But in a county where 54 out of 88 cities received an F in 2008 for their tobacco-prevention efforts, the neighboring cities are clearly ahead of the pack.

We hope that the cities will take their high and low marks into account as they head into 2009. Both have already made impressive strides in recent years — the association chose Burbank as the site of its inaugural Los Angeles Healthy Air Walk in November, while Glendale’s new smoking ordinance helped the city leap in one year from a C to an A — and with the association, and a number of residents, calling for stricter rules around housing units, officials’ work appears to be cut out for them.

And a recent study from the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that fighting secondhand smoke isn’t just a comfort issue. The report, published Dec. 30, declares that over a three-year period following a smoking ban, a Colorado town saw a 41% drop in heart attacks.

Three years from now, hospitals around Los Angeles County may see a drop as well. And we applaud Burbank and Glendale for serving as models for others to follow.