Many of us know that our city is often not up to such places as New York City and San Francisco that afford the pleasure of smoke free dining but to fall behind a city in Texas...even Austin. How about it Mpls City Council?
Good News From the Tobacco-Free Austin Coalition: In the almost wee-hours last night, the Austin, TX city council took a roller coaster ride as it considered the proposed smoke-free ordinance on third, and final reading. The ordinance had passed largely intact, 4-3, on first and second readings -- making public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars smoke-free (exemptions for bingo, pool halls and fraternal orgs were made during first and second readings). But last minute maneuvers in the days before the final vote led everyone to believe that the opposition had peeled off one of the yes votes, to support a proposal to exempt bars from the ordinance. And for the majority of the hearing, it looked like that was going to happen -- all that was left was to dance the pre-arranged dance. The amendment to exempt bars was put forward, with discussion about how to define bars and whether the exemption would include bars attached to restaurants. Percentages of sales from alcohol were tossed about, murmers of enclosed, separately ventilated restaurant bars ensued. In the end, the proposed bar exemption was made so broad that many restaurants could have qualified as bars. The peeled off vote, committed to smokefree restaurants including attached bars, came back home. The mayor immediately called the vote on the original ordinance - it passed, final time, 4-3. Everyone on both sides stood in shock as it sank in what had just happened. We have a run-off election that could put an anti-ordinance member on the council (the mayor, who sponsored the ordinance, retires next Thus). The opposition is talking lawsuit, and there's always the chance of referendum. But we'll meet those challenges as they come. Come Labor Day, the workers of Austin will celebrate freedom from secondhand smoke. -- Jeremy Hanson Public Policy Director Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition 1619 Dayton Avenue, Suite 303 St. Paul, MN 55104 Direct Phone: 651.999.5281 General Phone: 651.641.1223 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.smokefreecoalition.org Phyllis Kahn State Rep 59B TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
