I am in favor of amending, not rescinding the 
Hennepin County and Minneapolis smoking bans.  
I am favor of forcing all bar and restaurant owners 
to provide a totally smoke free environment to their 
patrons and employees. My only objection to the 
bans, as written, is that they do not specifically allow 
bars and restaurants to set up separately ventilated 
indoor smoking lounges. 

On the other hand, the organized bar and restaurant 
owners who oppose the ban want to rescind, not amend 
the smoking bans. 

For a majority of bar and restaurant owners, setting up 
a separately ventilated and heated room in order to 
provide an indoor smoking lounge may be impractical, 
or a big investment, and possibly a money losing 
investment. And there may be a way around a complete 
ban on indoor smoking for some bars and restaurants, 
such as building a patio enclosure and designating it 
as a smoking lounge.  

Other Economic Impacts

Overall, the business done by bars and restaurants 
is likely to fall off due to the loss of business from 
cigarette smoking patrons, at least in the short run, 
especially when smokers have to step outside to 
smoke when the air temperature is below zero. 
On the other hand, with all bars and restaurants 
providing totally smoke-free environments, there is 
a possibility that much of the lost trade will be 
made up by nonsmokers. Some nonsmokers 
cannot tolerate second hand smoke, and others 
simply prefer a totally smoke-free environment. 

-Doug Mann, King Field
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