We're all for the smoking ban. I'd like to be able to go out for a drink at 10 pm, and not stink like sour smoke the next day. As an ex-smoker, I don't gag at the smell of smoke, but the stale residue that lingers on clothing, hair, etc., irks me.
Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn Anecdotes aside, Academic study after academic study shows no overall negative impact on bar and restaurant revenues. (also here, and here) In fact, some studies, like a recent Harvard University analysis of pre- and post-ban data from Massachusetts, show measurable positive impacts.One of the compromises that Smoke-Free Chicago helped introduce into the Chicago proposal this week is a hardship exemption for individual bars and restaurants that can show a 15 percent revenue drop attributable to the ban.
They also decreased the mandatory smoke-free zone outside an establishment's door to 10 feet from 25 feet.
Illinois Restaurant Association leaders may wring a few more short-term concessions in the next three weeks out of aldermen who are aware of Mayor Richard Daley's call for com promise on the issue.
Those campaigning for a sweeping ban on smoking in Chicago's restaurants and bars got a lesson in City Hall politics Wednesday.Led by the American Cancer Society, they have mounted an aggressive public relations campaign in recent months that seemed to be gaining ground. There was supposed to be a vote in the City Council's Health Committee Wednesday, and there were some predictions that the smoking ban would easily pass there and be approved by the City Council a day later.
But Wednesday morning all of that went up, well, in smoke. The vote was delayed. The most likely reason: Mayor Richard Daley still isn't comfortable with the proposed ordinance, which would impose a sweeping ban on smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars. The mayor raised his reservations again Wednesday, without taking credit--or blame--for delaying the vote.
and no matter how interesting Alderman Natarus may be, this is not a good proposal:
There are other good ideas out there. Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) has suggested restaurants, bars and bowling alleys be allowed to buy a “tobacco use” license, costing up to $500 a year. The license fees could be earmarked for smoking cessation programs or used to pay for monitoring the compliance with air ventilation standards.
$500 dollars isn't much money, and how does it stop smoking? I think the (unsigned) author of this article is friends with Natarus or something.
Also from the Trib's Gary Washburn:
Unable to reach a compromise Wednesday, the City Council's Health Committee put off a vote on an ordinance that would impose a sweeping smoking ban that included Chicago bars and restaurants.Ald. Ed Smith (28th), the committee's chairman, reluctantly agreed to wait to see the terms of a compromise proposal from the Illinois Restaurant Association. But Smith vowed that his committee would approve and send on to the full council a final version of the ordinance by the end of this month.
The decision disappointed anti-smoking advocates who have mounted an aggressive and expensive public relations campaign and who expected the committee to send the ordinance on to the council for consideration at Thursday's meeting.
The delay also set the stage for a new round of lobbying, arm-twisting and politicking on the highly charged and controversial issue of just how far a smoking ban should go.
Smith's proposed ordinance, whose provisions were crafted by an anti-smoking coalition led by the American Cancer Society, would have barred smoking in virtually all public places, including restaurants and bars. That proposal was amended at Wednesday's meeting but not enough to win over the hospitality industry.
