There is a remote possibility that this post will wander off purely St. Paul issues but, hey, what the heck. The "Freedom to breathe Act" will be heard in the Senate Health committee on Tuesday. It is SF 0404 with authors Dibble, Belanger, Kiskaden, Ptrettner Solon, Dille. The House bill is HF0405/HF 0412 with authors Meslow, Latz and others (including the ST PAUL connection, Paymar, Mariani, Hausman, Entenza). The House bill will next be heard in the Commerce Committee where the reception may not be real warm. There are neither St Paul nor Ramsey County members on the Commerce Committee. As the bill currently stands in the House it is similar to the Ramsey County bill and exempts bars and private clubs.
I would like to make a pitch for phone calls and letters. We underestimate our power. We lost one vote in the house when a representative received a SINGLE phone call from a restauranteur in his community that said such a law would drive her out of business. Jeanne Weigum, still not smoking in Merriam Park. Andy Driscoll wrote: > Not that the merits of the issue�or even stories like this�will move > politicians corrupted by tobacco lobbyists and bar-owners who seems to have > more clout than any "citizen," but let's jump down the throats of all our > legislators and institute a statewide smoking ban that means something. > The phony stories of bars going belly-up have been a smokescreen for undue > influence-peddling and scare tactics. > > Minnesota is so far overdue for these changes, it's all but laughable. > > Call your senators and reps. Find their numbers/addresses at: > <http://www.leg.state.mn.us> > > Andy Driscoll > Crocus Hill > -- > The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men: Plato > -- > Visit our weblog: http://bumpasblog.blogspot.com > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > February 6, 2005 > > In Barrooms, Smoking Ban Is Less Reviled > By JIM RUTENBERG and LILY KOPPEL > > Back in 2002, when the City Council was weighing Mayor Michael R. > Bloomberg's proposal to eliminate smoking from all indoor public places, few > opponents were more fiercely outspoken than James McBratney, president of > the Staten Island Restaurant and Tavern Association. > > He frequently ripped Mr. Bloomberg as a billionaire dictator with a > prohibitionist streak that would undo small businesses like his bar and his > restaurant. Visions of customers streaming to the legally smoke-filled pubs > of New Jersey kept him awake at night. > > Asked last week what he thought of the now two-year-old ban, Mr. McBratney > sounded changed. "I have to admit," he said sheepishly, "I've seen no > falloff in business in either establishment." He went on to describe what he > once considered unimaginable: Customers actually seem to like it, and so > does he. > > By many predictions, the smoking ban, which went into effect on March 30, > 2003, was to be the beginning of the end of the city's reputation as the > capital of grit. Its famed nightlife would wither, critics warned, bar and > restaurant businesses would sink, tourists would go elsewhere, and the mayor > who wrought it all would pay a hefty price in the polls. And then there were > those who said that city smokers, a rebellious class if ever there was one, > simply would not abide. > > But a review of city statistics, as well as interviews last week with dozens > of bar patrons, workers and owners, found that the ban has not had the > crushing effect on New York's economic, cultural and political landscapes > predicted by many of its opponents. > > Employment in restaurants and bars, one indicator of the city's service > economy, has risen slightly since the ban went into effect, as has the > number of restaurant permits requested and held, according to city records, > although those increases could be attributed in part to several factors, > including a general improvement in the city's economy. > > City health inspectors report that 98 percent of bars and restaurants are in > compliance with the rules, though some critics question those statistics. > Wrath at Mr. Bloomberg, at least pertaining to the smoking ban, seems to be > abating. > > There are still those cursing the ban as an affront to their civil > liberties, and some bar and restaurant owners say that it has undoubtedly > caused a decline in business. City officials say they doubt that contention, > pointing to data from the first year of the ban showing that restaurant and > bar tax receipts were up 8.7 percent over the previous year's. They said > they were still waiting for more detailed and current data from the state. > > But a vast majority of bar and restaurant patrons interviewed last week, > including self-described hard-core smokers, said they were surprised to find > themselves pleased with cleaner air, cheaper dry-cleaning bills and a new > social order created by the ban. > > All of this comes as great relief to Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of > the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who took his job on a > promise from the mayor that the smoking ban would be given priority. "It was > not a pleasant time," he said of the initial uproar over the ban. "There was > a myth that this was very unpopular." > > Dr. Frieden credits the apparent success of the new smoking rules here with > encouraging other seemingly unlikely places to follow suit, or at least to > consider doing so. Among them are Boston, Virginia, Australia, Ireland and > Italy. Last week, the City Council in Philadelphia began reviewing a newly > proposed bill to make bars and restaurants smoke-free. > > The councilman who introduced the bill in Philadelphia, Michael A. Nutter, > cited New York as an inspiration. "This is kind of the epitome of the song: > 'If you can make it there,' " he said in an interview. "What people are > saying is, 'If New York can deal with clean-air legislation, why can't we?' > " > > Mr. Nutter said he was not worried about the political ramifications. > > Mr. Bloomberg's Republican critics have indicated they will raise the > smoking rules during the Republican primary campaign as an example of what > they call his Democratic tendency toward regulation. But many of the mayor's > staunchest opponents said they thought the ban would have no effect on his > re-election bid. One of his Democratic challengers, Gifford Miller, the City > Council speaker, helped secure the ban's passage. And a leading contender > for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Fernando Ferrer, has said he would > not seek to overturn it. > > "I thought he would lose 50,000 votes simply based on the smoking ban," said > Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the New York Nightlife Association, a trade > group that aggressively fought the ban. "I'm not so sure anymore." > > That is no small thing for Mr. Bloomberg, who once faced hecklers in the > streets because of the smoking ban, and whose drop in popularity after it > was put in effect was illustrated by The New York Post in a front-page bar > graph with cigarette butts. > > Mr. Bookman did not dispute most of the good-news numbers the city presented > in relation to the smoking ban, though he disagrees with the conclusion that > the ban has not had an adverse impact on restaurants and bars. > > "Clearly employment is up in New York City going into 2005 or the end of > 2004 compared with the year before the smoking ban went into effect," he > said. "The year before was 2002; 2002 was almost a depression in New York > City. It was the recession plus the 9/11 economic impact. Everybody's doing > better in New York compared with 2002." > > Mr. Bookman said that the nightlife industries would be doing better still > without the ban. But he conceded during an interview that his group had all > but given up any lingering hope of overturning the city's provision. It is > instead focusing in part on what he said were unfair enforcement issues, > like ticketing bar owners for the misbehavior of smoking patrons or for an > increase in noise complaints drawn by customers smoking outside. City > officials say noise complaints have risen because the city's 311 complaint > line has made it easier to file them, not because of outdoor smoking. > > The turncoats of Mr. Bookman's once vocal movement can be found on the > sidewalk on any given night. Huddled in a tent at the Bohemian Hall and Beer > Garden in the Astoria section of Queens on Wednesday and chain-smoking by > two heat lamps, Kate Bly, who teaches English to foreign exchange students, > said she was surprised by her own positive reaction to the measure, which > she had expected would be terrible. > > "I was really against the smoking ban," she said. "I thought, bars are for > sinful things, smoking, drinking. Now my reaction has changed. I used to > feel clammy, stinky, disgusting. Now there's a nice breakup to the evening > and a new crowd." > > Jason Sitek, 31, said he had similarly begun to enjoy the ban, even if > smoke-free bars subtract from what he used to think a New York City bar > should be. "The whole nature of New York City and the bar is you can go into > a smoky atmosphere," he said. "It's like Disney World now." > > Still, he said, smoke-free bars have their advantages. "You realize you stop > stinking, you don't smell like an ashtray," he said on Tuesday night as he > smoked outside Spike Hill, a bar in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. > > The temperature was hovering near 30 degrees, but down the street, in front > of Rosemary's Greenpoint Tavern, Brian Rennie, 23, said he did not mind that > he was forced outdoors to smoke. "I like going outside," he said. "I like to > get fresh air." > > Several smokers cited other advantages. > > "I'm all for it. My dry-cleaning bill's gone way down," said John Payne, 36, > who was smoking on Tuesday night outside Toad Hall, in SoHo. "And I'm > smoking less." > > A friend, Bill Cauclanis, 29, said, "There's a secondary scene now outside > of bars - a smoker's scene." > > He added: "You can meet a girl out here. Strike up a conversation." > > What is good for singles like Mr. Cauclanis is bad for bartenders, who > cannot so easily go outside and who find themselves increasingly cut out of > the social scene in which they centrally stood. Now, they are often placed > in the role of hall monitors, chiding those who disobediently light up, said > Barry Crooks, who was tending bar at Toad Hall. Mr. Crooks, an owner of Toad > Hall, said he was far more worried about a falloff in business of at least > 10 percent, which he said was a result of the new smoking ordinance. "It > hurt the volume of business," Mr. Crooks said. > > While such complaints were once more common, and perhaps more heated, there > are still plenty of them. "It hurts," said John Mulvey, owner of Bridget's > Public House on Staten Island. > > Public acceptance of the ban has "come around a little bit," Mr. Mulvey > said. Business was off 25 percent right after the ban took effect, he said, > but now that decline has stabilized at about 5 percent. And while Mr. Mulvey > is no longer furious over the anti-smoking ordinance, he says it bothers him > that he is not free to run his business as he sees fit - without government > intervention. > > Mr. Mulvey still has a champion in Audrey Silk, founder of NYC Clash, or > Citizens Lobby Against Smoker Harassment. In an interview, Ms. Silk vowed to > continue fighting the ban. "We're not giving up," she said. > > Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company > > ------ End of Forwarded Message > > _____________________________________________ > To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ____________________________________________ > NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [email protected] > > To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul > > Archive Address: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ -- Jeanne Weigum 651-646-3005 fax 651-646-0142 _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [email protected] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
