Posted on 01/16/2004 5:47:01 PM PST by beaureguard
CONYERS — Six months ago, local restaurant owner Bill Jones undertook the ambitious experiment of operating Conyers’ first smoke-free sports bar. In favor of a healthier dining atmosphere and in agreement with the ideals of local organization Smoke-Free Rockdale, Jones marketed his establishment to families and community organizations and sent those patrons who were smoking outside.
However, as of the first of the year, Jones said the experiment had failed.
“It was a decision that was based on economics,” Jones said. “We simply didn’t receive the support in numbers we had hoped for from non-smokers. On the other hand, about 60 percent of our (patrons) are smokers, and they didn’t mind going outside when it was warm, but once it got cold they minded, and our business went in the tank.”
Jones owns 3rd Base Sports Grill on Salem Road, one of a few local restaurants that have received recent attention due to their support for a ban on smoking in restaurants. The movement has been led by the BREATHE Campaign, a non-profit, anti-tobacco group, which supports the prohibition of smoking in public places, workplaces and restaurants.
Over the last six months, the group has circulated information on the hazards of second-hand smoke and asked residents to indicate their support for the movement by providing their names on a mail-in form. The group has also presented a possible no-smoking ordinance to local government officials, both from the city of Conyers and Rockdale County, and asked that the two come on board with the movement.
In response to the request, officials from both the city and county have said they would need to gauge public opinion on the matter, but that they were hesitant to mandate such an ordinance on private businesses. For this reason, officials have said such an ordinance might warrant a vote.
This past December, the city of Conyers conducted an online survey as to whether or not it should adopt a no-smoking ordinance. Although the results of the poll are still unknown, city spokeswoman Jennifer Edwards said it had tallied more than 700 responses, creating the most traffic the site has seen since its inception. As a result, the city has extended the survey, which was set to end Dec. 18 but is still available at www.conyersga.com.
Officials from the county also plan to hear a presentation from Smoke-Free Rockdale in a Feb. 6 work session.
Barbara McCarthy is the president of the local effort and says that she is surprised the city and the county have hesitated in adopting a no-smoking ordinance.
“It’s really a health issue,” McCarthy said. “We don’t want to disrupt people’s lives, and it’s not about being political. But it is the sworn duty of elected officials to protect the health and welfare of the citizenry, so any delay in action would be unwise.” McCarthy also pointed out that less than 30 percent of local residents smoke and that the group had received hundreds of mail-in forms voicing their support for the ordinance, along with the backing of 58 local organizations including the local board of health and Rockdale Medical Center.
McCarthy also said that a no-smoking ordinance would not be a detriment to local businesses, as long as it was applied across the board.
Manager Jim McCarthy from local restaurant American Tavern believes that banning smoking indoors would not hurt his business as long as his patrons were allowed to smoke outside.
“It depends on the type of public ordinance that is adopted,” he said. “Some ordinances say that you can’t smoke indoors because it is offensive, which I can understand, but others say that you can’t smoke outside either, and that would hurt our business. People would probably stay home to have a beer and smoke instead of coming out as much.”
Or as another alternative, 3rd Base’s Jones believes that instead of imposing a smoking ban, local governments could require restaurants with smoking sections to operate more efficient air filter systems. For instance, Jones uses a state-of-the-art Honeywell system which he says has kept his air so clean that some patrons in the non-smoking section were unaware that other patrons were smoking.
Jones said that many restaurants do not invest the proper time and money in installing such a system.
“There’s lots of new technology out there to clean air, and it’s much more efficient than what we used to have,” Jones said. “Perhaps the county could adopt an ordinance that required people to put in the proper equipment for the capacity of the room they are operating.”
And actually, being the only non-smoking bar in the area would give him a competitive advantage as compared with being one of several, if people who who objected to smoke made up any significant portion of his potential clientelle.
Ummm. No, actually.. The elected officials just need to stay out of the way of productive humans.
/john
Of course not you knucklehead! The overwhelming majority of the people that USED TO go to your place either smoked or didn't care about smoking! Your attempt to cater to the outspoken minority who offer up all kinds of hollow promises if only you will honor their biased requests is a lesson in socialist economics!
"What's good for me is definitely good for you".......
FMCDH
Also any delay in action to remove french fries from the menu would be unwise. I guess fries are not politically incorrect enough for her.
When one starts drilling down through the fog they try to cast, it usually turns out they are anti a lot more than tobacco.
From my observations, anyway.
He expected to draw every drinking non-smoker in the area and when the anti-smoking zealots didn't show he realized that he could stick with the non-smoking zealot crowd and go out of business or go back to business as normal.
You know, the fun places.
I always wonder if the smoking gnatzies check up on biker bars, like PETA never throws animal blood on leather wearing, tattooed bikers.
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