PORTLAND (AP) – A new law taking effect Friday in Maine’s largest city will prohibit smoking within the outdoor areas of restaurants and bars where beverage or dining service is available, but smokers will be allowed to light up after 10 p.m.

Portland City Council enacted the ordinance to decrease the public’s exposure to second hand smoke. Maximum fines for violators are $100.

“Second hand smoke is a dangerous toxin,” said Mayor Ed Suslovic.

The city of about 64,000 people has more than 60 restaurants and bars with outdoor dining areas.

Some bar owners opposed the ordinance, questioning whether it will be effective.

Because the ordinance sets no minimum distance between smokers and outdoor dining areas, bar owners say it will do little to protect patrons from second hand smoke from people outside the restaurant’s property.

They also said that patrons forced off their properties to smoke would leave sidewalks and streets littered with cigarette butts.

“There’s one more choice being taken away. How far is this going to go?” asked Eric Michaud, who owns the Novare Res Bier Cafe off of Exchange Street.

Portland is not the first city to contemplate such restrictions, which go beyond the ban on smoking inside restaurants and bars which Maine and a number of other states have enacted.

Los Angeles is considering a plan to outlaw smoking within five feet of any restaurant table on a sidewalk, in an outdoor courtyard or on an exterior patio. Consideration of the proposal, which is modeled after an ordinance in Burbank, Calif., is being delayed while officials see if a compromise can be reached.

Los Angeles has had a law for six years that prohibits smoking on the city’s public beaches, and has since extended the ban to include public parks, with some exceptions.

Back in Maine, Portland has adopted an ordinance prohibiting smoking at or within 20 feet of city-owned or maintained beaches, playgrounds and athletic facilities, except in specifically designated areas.