Posted on 06/23/2002 9:26:10 PM PDT by chance33_98
Smoking Ban Hurting Tempe Restaurants
Tempe, June 19 (AP) -- It may be a breath of fresh air to walk into restaurants here and not smell smoke, but restaurant and bar owners say they're smothering.
They are asking the City Council to do something to ease the financial pain arising from the new, restrictive anti-smoking ordinance.
A number of owners say revenue is down by as much as 20 percent since the voter-approved ordinance took effect May 30. They plan to outline their concerns during a council meeting Thursday.
"You can either kill yourself with gloom and doom, or you can take the tack that clean air is far better than dirty air," said Lee Fairbanks, who spearheaded the campaign to restrict smoking. "It's healthy, it's better than sitting in a cloud of cancerous smoke."
Since Tempe voters approved the most stringent smoking ban in the area, police have responded to 38 complaints of smokers in bars and restaurants but issued no citations.
local bar owners are having a tough time. The big problem is, that this totally coincides with ASU letting out for the school year. In past conversations with local merchants (of all types) around the campus over the years, a huge percentage of their business drops every year at this time. Some of them struggle to stay open through the summer. Others close their doors entirely.
I read this article in the local Tribune. The way it was written, it was made to blame the whole decline in business on the smoking ban. This is not completely accurate. You can't have regular business when the student population of Tempe drops significantly over the summer.
Nonetheless, I still (as a nonsmoker) voted against the ban. It will be more accurate to assess the damage in the fall, when the kids return to class.
The only way that can be related to the smoking ban is if the smokers were weasels and decided to stay home and smoke rather than enjoy an outing.
To hear the smokers talk they're supporters of business owners. So it couldn't be that they're cowering at home afraid they won't be able to blow smoke in other peoples faces if they left the house.
Unless of course their claim to support business owners is just more of their blowing smoke.
And those who don't get their way, cower at home with what really controls their lives, their cigarette.
I have actually enjoyed finding all of the bars in L.A. County that have been good enough to pay the cops their graft.
In the Fox Valley one town banned smoking in all establishments. The smokers just come to my town now.
Also, you can't get a table on the weekend if a restaurant has a liquor license. If it doesn't, there's plenty of room.
The upshot is: people eat out (and drink) to socialize. Often they smoke. This area more than most.
If they can't enjoy the experience, they go elsewhere or stay away.
Then you'd have no problem with landlords not allowing smoking in his/her rentals.
"...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."
Amendment IX:
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to DENY or DISPARAGE others retained by the people."
Don't you ever get tired of being an a$$? Sounds like the smokers are voting with their feet. And their pocketbooks. Just like they've done everywhere else these unelected dictators in the "health" cabal trample all over the owners' private property rights.
Sounds like a nice neighborhood....Bar owners "good enough" to pay off cops on the take and all.
Of course not. Nor would I argue against their right to ban non-smoking tenants, should they choose to do so.
You sound reasonable. You'd have no problem with a new owner excercising his/her right to ban, even evict, the existing smoking tenants too then?
It sounds like, unlike some, actually most of your phony smoker friends, I'm sure you'd have no problems patronizing the businesses of innocent owners if a ban was in effect where you live....right?
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