Posted on 03/19/2006 5:38:32 AM PST by SheLion
Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart is a nonsmoker who says he runs eight miles every day. A year ago, he banned smoking on the job for city employees. Since then, municipal buildings including the Natatorium have gone completely smoke free.
Yet Robart is one of two big-city mayors in Summit County who virtually ensured the defeat of the countywide smoking ban by refusing to go along with it.
Welcome to the complicated politics of the ill-fated Summit County Clean Indoor Air law.
The smoking ban was originally sponsored by Summit County Executive James B. McCarthy and council members Pete Crossland, D-4; Paul Gallagher, D-at-large; Nick Kostandaras, D-1; Louise Heydorn, R-3; Cazzell Smith, D-5; and Council President Clair Dickinson, D-at-large. But the ban has been hovering between life and death since its passage in November when Cuyahoga Falls and Akron said their own laws that permit smoking areas took precedence.
When the county measure took effect in late February, it suffered from anemic enforcement and pressure from tavern owners who took their fight to court.
On Monday, barring a surprise, the law will be put out of its misery by the same council that once widely touted it.
The vote to postpone enforcement will likely go this way: Tom Teodosio, D-2; Paula Prentice, D-8; Tim Crawford, D-7; Kostandaras; Gallagher; Michael Callahan, R-at-large; and Dan Congrove, D-6, will vote yes, which will postpone the county ban until next January. Crossland, Smith, Heydorn and Dickinson will vote no.
Recent discussion
Last week, the county council members listened to speaker after speaker try to save the ban.
They were applauded for their bravery in passing it and admonished for not standing by it.
Though obviously conflicted, it was clear the council had judged the ban beyond saving, setting Monday for a final vote.
``I think we sparked something good,'' Teodosio said... ``I still support a smoke-free Summit County, but what we have is an ordinance that is unequally applied throughout the county. That's not fair.''
Despite hospital endorsements, thousands of signatures of support and voluntary compliance from a growing list of restaurants, critics said the ban was doomed from the outset.
Exemptions for some hotel rooms, bowling alleys, private clubs and a race track that straddled Summit and Cuyahoga counties won enough votes to get the initial version passed, but fueled a widespread notion that the law was unfair to some businesses, particularly in townships.
Another blunder was that mayors of home-rule cities can decide whether to follow a county law -- and smoking ban organizers never sought their help.
That misstep cost the support of Gallagher and Kostandaras. ``Some of us acted without all the information we needed,'' Kostandaras said. ``We were led to believe they would follow.''
Robart said he wasn't approached before the County Council voted. ``I don't know if they went to see Don Plusquellic, either. I don't think (organizers) realized they had no jurisdiction on us.''
The list of cities that opted out grew to include New Franklin and Barberton. About 300,000 residents, more than half of Summit County, lived in areas where they were told the ban would not apply. ``It was an unlevel playing field,'' Robart said, adding he would ``wholeheartedly support'' a statewide ban without exemptions.
Alternate solution
Mayor Plusquellic and the Akron City Council recently passed a resolution to favor a statewide ban. The mayor also floated an alternate plan he said had the support of downtown bar and restaurant owners that would allow smoking after 9 p.m.
Gallagher, a 22-year council veteran, said he can't remember ever running county legislation past a municipality, but he also never expected Akron to opt out.
``I don't believe what we're faced with right now is a health issue... Is it our duty,'' he asked, ``to enforce this in Fairlawn and not in Norton? That's a violation of our duty to regulate fairly.''
In the week before the ban took effect Feb. 27, 10 businesses, including Perkins Square Health Clinic, sued the council, claiming the law was unenforceable, and winning the businesses temporary protection from the law.
David A. George, vice president of Bell Music, whose clients own a large number of local bars and restaurants, formed the Summit County Hospitality Coalition to fight the ban.
He's happy but cautious about the pending demise of the law. ``We're hopeful, but you never know what will happen in government,'' George said. ``If the vote doesn't go our way, those lawsuits will proceed.''
The legislature is expected to take no action on language submitted to them for a statewide smoking ban, thus paving the way for nonsmoking groups to collect signatures and submit that question to voters on the November ballot.
George has said his group would fight to keep that kind of ban off the ballot. ``What we would like to see is the public given a third option,'' he said. ``There's a large statewide constituency that would support a ban that does not include places like truck stops, bowling alleys, bars and bingo parlors.''
In the 21 days the Clean Air Act has been in effect, the County Health Department received 90 complaint calls.
Jill Oldham, project director for the county Tobacco Prevention Coalition isn't waiting for a Monday miracle, but she hasn't ruled out the chance that the words of the ban's chief supporter could have some effect.
``It's like Pete (Crossland) said, `May God speak to you all between now and next Monday'.''
``I also appreciated what Clair (Dickinson) said, even though I knew things probably weren't going our way. I really felt it was the most thoughtful discussion they had about this. But it was like speaking kindly of the dead,'' Oldham said. ``In the end that doesn't do too much.''
Attention all business owners suffering from a smoking ban.
Please fill out this form and submit it for a new web page
Ban Loss
Bump!
Without a doubt! Thank you!!!
Down with prohibitionism!
Up with liberty!
Screw the Antismoking Nazis!
I wasn't aware that the most deadly substance known to mankind, second-hand smoke, became harmless after 9 PM.
You can't make this stuff up.
You can't make this stuff up.
Heeee Ahhhhhhhh
"I wasn't aware that the most deadly substance known to mankind, second-hand smoke, became harmless after 9 PM."
"You can't make this stuff up."
My dear Madame, that is priceless.
But, I believe that they will continue to grasp at straws. They don't care about anyone's "health". It's nothing but a power-grab. I, for one, am damn glad they got to eat it.
"On Monday, barring a surprise, the law will be put out of its misery by the same council that once widely touted it".
OH, SWEET IRONY!
And I'm sure Northfield Park (harness horse track= betting revenue)had a play in this.
Jill Oldham, project director for the county Tobacco Prevention Coalition isn't waiting for a Monday miracle, but she hasn't ruled out the chance that the words of the ban's chief supporter could have some effect.Gotta love this a**hat, who's apparently never held a private sector job in his life, claiming to speak for God.``It's like Pete (Crossland) said, `May God speak to you all between now and next Monday'.''
Northfield Park isn't really involved in the current debate, they are exempt.
I know of a lot of "quiet noncompliance", especially close to the Cuyahoga County line. Cuyahoga County is a place that for the most part even ignored the original Prohibition.
-Eric
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