So they DO recognize that smoking bans are very bad for a private business!
Posted on 05/03/2006 5:13:08 AM PDT by SheLion
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana restaurant patrons who want an after-dinner smoke should be forced to leave the dining room before lighting up, the full Senate decided today.
Senators approved Sen. Rob Marionneaux’s plan to prohibit smoking in all restaurants’ dining areas but allow smoking in bars and casinos, cigar shops, and hotel and motel rooms. Marionneaux cited several polls conducted by anti-smoking groups showing that a majority of residents in Louisiana’s cities support such a ban.
“Let’s afford our citizens the right to have dinner with their families without the bother of second-hand smoke,” said Marionneaux, D-Livonia.
The measure passed on a 36-2 vote. Sens. Heulette “Clo” Fontenot, R-Livingston, and Max Malone, R-Shreveport, opposed the bill, which now moves to the House.
If the bill becomes law, smoking would be outlawed in restaurants beginning in 2007.
Sen. Ken Hollis filed an amendment to allow smoking inside restaurants’ bar areas, if those bars are walled off from the dining area. Hollis said suddenly banning smokers from those areas could drive restaurants out of business, because their customers will go to bars where smoking is allowed.
“This will hopefully keep some of our restaurants from going out of business,” said Hollis, R-Metairie.
Marionneaux opposed the amendment, calling it a veiled attempt to kill the measure, by drawing further opposition from the restaurant industry. Restaurant owners have complained that the bill — even without Hollis’ amendment — gives tavern owners special treatment.
Senators approved Hollis’ amendment with a 23-15 vote, sending it to the House.
The bill was also amended by Sen. Diana Bajoie, D-New Orleans, who added an exemption aimed at helping New Orleans’ convention center attract business. The amendment would allow smoking at convention space during tobacco industry trade shows.
It would also allow smoking during Mardi Gras krewes’ parties held at a convention center.
Marionneaux introduced a similar plan last year that was voted down by the full Senate, partly because it included a provision to also outlaw smoking in casinos. This year’s version exempts casinos, eliminating opposition from the powerful gambling industry and improving its chances of eventually becoming law.
So they DO recognize that smoking bans are very bad for a private business!
The land of parties. Go figure!
This is the beginning of the end for smokers. No way does anti-smoking groups settle for this for more than a year before the next step in banning bars, hotels and any public gathering areas.
You are such a nice guy and what couth! Wow! Keep up the good work. America needs more hate.
On the other hand, what the heck business is it of the government to disallow smoking in PRIVATE establishments? This is clearly a matter for the market, NOT government, to decide.
At least you recognize that this should be left up to the private business owner and his patrons and not the government.
No, not really. The smoking bans are being passed everywhere. A lot of states recognize the bans for what they are worth, and are voting them down.
Because I do not enjoy inhaling or watching my young daughters inhale other people's cigarette smoke I am a hater? That is bizarre.
As a Louisiana resident who frequents restaurants with my family, it will be nice to finally be able to go out to dinner and not be assaulted by other peoples' smoky excrement. Non-smoking areas are a joke because the excrement invariably wafts through the whole restaurant anyway.
I am a smoker and could not agree with you more. I would never light up a cigarette in a restaurant, even if there is a smoking section.
For me it is not a rights issue but a manners issue. I think it is rude to subject other diners to my smoke.
I think that if smokers were more courteous. non smokers would be more tolerant.
To decide whether a smoking ban is bad for business, one must look at the example of Ireland - possibly the hardest drinking and smoking country in the world to see if business has been adversely affected by the ban that has been in place for some time now. The actual fact of the matter is that bar and restaurant trade has reduced as the majority who don't smoke are put off visiting establishments polluted by the minority who smoke.
'Ireland's Office of Tobacco Control website indicates that "An evaluation of the official hospitality sector data shows there has been no adverse economic effect from the introduction of this measure (the March 2004 national ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, etc). Bar retail sales in volume terms have increased during the last three-month period (year-on-year) following a four-year decline. The numbers employed in this sector in the first quarter of this year have increased to 23,200 – up 1,400 from the previous quarter. This represents the most significant quarterly increase in employment since the second quarter of 2002." [13] Thus, even in a country with a relatively high percentage of smokers, the smoking ban did not seem to have a negative effect on business in bars or restaurants.
According to the 2004 Zagat Survey, which polled nearly 30,000 New York City restaurant patrons, by a margin of almost 6 to 1, respondents said that they eat out more often now because of the city's smoke-free policy. [14] Thus, research generally indicates that business incomes are stable (or even improved) after smoking bans are enacted, and many customers appreciate the improved air quality.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3763471.stm
Irish Independent 15th September 2005
'OFF-LICENCE sales are falling and Irish drinkers are returning to the pub, new figures from the Central Statistics Office released yesterday show.
Sales of beer, wine, spirits and food in pubs rose by 1.1pc in July 2005 compared with the previous month, showing an annual increase of 5.8pc.
At the same time, off-licence sales fell by 5pc between June and July, showing a slight annual decrease of 0.1pc. . . .
A CSO spokesperson said that pub sales had been falling before the smoking ban was introduced but were now recovering.'
Whether a ban local to you is the right thing to do is a question for your local legislature, but where a ban has already been imposed, businesses have benefited, not suffered.
MS: Smoking at Home Threatens Children Despite Support for Public Bans
quote from post #229
I am passionate about little kids being afforded clean air among their few vital needs.(winston2)
The only way that will occur is if you put them in a bubble. I live in the country, out in the middle of nowhere and still there is pollution.(Gabz)
One point that I haven't seen mentioned is how air tight our dwellings and automobiles are these days.(winston2)
I may not have mentioned it on this particular thread, but I discuss that on a regular basis. The airtight homes and sterile environments so many kids live with in these times is more of a danger to their health than exposure to a bit of cigarette smoke.
Every sickly kid I know comes from a household where they are not permitted to get dirty, anti-bacterial soaps and wipes are used constantly, and are all non-smoking households. All the healthy kids I know are allowed to be kids - they play outside, they get dirty, they've been known to even eat dirt and many live in non-smoking households, but others live in households with smokers, or are around friends and relatives that are smokers.(Gabz)
Geesh.
It's worse than I thought.
" Marionneaux cited several polls conducted by anti-smoking groups showing that a majority of residents in Louisiana’s cities support such a ban."
Who did they poll? Probably their own members.
Now, I can just picture you sitting on your hands and not saying a word if someone called something you did "excrement." There is really only one thing that comes to my mind when I read that word.
And you expect us to just sit here and let your snide remark pass on by? No way Jose!
Well, sorry, but this is America and thousands of private businesses across the U.S. have closed because of the forced smoking ban by our government who thinks they know what is best for us.
THE REAL FACTS OF THE SMOKING BANS IMPACT ON BUSINESS'S
The Facts
Check out the two newest FR Anti's we have here.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
And you expect us to just sit here and let your snide remark pass on by? No way Jose!
Cigarette smoke is inhaled, then exhaled (excreted). Therefore, I call it "excrement" and have done so since I quit smoking 27 years ago.
I really don't care if you like it. I don't like inhaling others' smoke, er, I mean excrement anymore than you like my choice of words.
And, if you could get past your irrational emotionalism you would see that I was essentially agreeing with you that government is overstepping its bounds by disallowing smoking in private establishments.
Stop with your attacks on me, and go back and re-read what I posted to you. I did acknowledge your statement about private businesses.
Attacks on you? What attacks?
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