Posted by Allan on 10/29/2009, 10:27 am
24.148.69.131
The whole Indianapolis/Marion County council on Monday night narrowly both voted down, and tabled Proposal 371, the smoking ban expansion that was proposed by Councilor Angela Mansfield, the same author who led the first smoking ban effort. Her original 2005 proposal, Proposal 45, was extremely strict as hell at first(even calling for a ban in all outdoor park areas!), before the 2005 council members agreed on the current compromise smoking ordinance that works very well for both sides. As it is, NO employees and/or patrons are forced to enter any businesses permitting smoking against their will, and the only ones allowed to enter smoking establishments are legal adults 18 and older. Other than this bill strangely not requiring bowling alleys to be 18 and up to permit smoking(and I won't disagree that this should be changed, to put them under the same rules as any adult-oriented bar or restaurant that prohibits minors), I'm glad the council chose to table this, but I know debate on this proposal isn't over, and it's inevitable this proposal at some point will probably be resurrected.
This was an absolutely awful proposal(including a 25 foot radius rule from building entrances, and stupidly only allowing current tobacco shops to seek a tobacco shop permit to allow smoking, and no future businesses yet to be established could've opened that weren't in existance if Proposal 371 had passed), that I'm very grateful was tabled! Hopefully Councilor Mansfield will be voted out one day, since she deserves so much to be defeated. Here's some articles, and some other good stuff:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/66398722.html
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091027/LOCAL18/910270363
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091026/LOCAL18/910260383/Council+tables+smoking+ban
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqpfrUW-xGc (and even having a current spirited off and on debate with another poster, who may or may not totally be on the other side. lol)
And finally, the letter I wrote 28 of 29 Indianapolis/Marion County Councillors:
Dear Indianapolis-Marion County Councillors,
I apologize this email is extremely late in coming, but due to my busy schedule, I very regretfully will not able to attend tonight's City-County Council meeting and vote on Proposal 371. Due to this circumstance, I have chosen to quickly email all City-County Councillors to express my opposition on this proposal to expand Indianapolis/Marion County's smoking ban. This ban expansion is NOT needed, or wanted by owners and employees of smoking establishments, when the current smoking ordinance already works to allow adults of legal smoking age to decide whether or not to work and/or patronize smoking establishments.
As it is, the demand for smoke-free establishments already has already worked to push many Indianapolis businesses to either go smoke-free or adjust their smoking policies to strike a balanced policy that works for accommodating their own customers the way they want to(i.e. Crackers Comedy Club, Talbott Street, Greg's, Union Jack Pub, The Vogue during ticketed shows, Mort's Comedy Club excluding a physically separate and ventilated lounge away from the performance area), while preserving choices for those who seek smoking establishments. If this proposal passes, it will unnecessarily take away the rights of businesses that choose to cater to smoking customers. It is also a slap in the face to suddenly take away the right of owners and employees their opportunity to operate and/or work in establishments catering to smokers. The investments of smoking establishments in ventilation technology are not fairly being considered in this proposal, since they will lose money they spent in installing such systems to accommodate non-smoking and smoking customers. Another problem with this ban is smoking establishments on outer areas of Marion County will be at an economic disadvantage to those outside of the county that can still allow smoking. In addition, I object to the amendment requiring tobacco shops to seek a permit to operate a smoking establishment, since this amendment does NOT allow future entrepreneurs to open a new tobacco shop, and only allows tobacco shops in existence now to seek such a permit. Requiring any current smoking establishment to go smoke-free, is JUST AS UNFAIR as requiring a non-smoking establishment to allow smoking tomorrow. It is only fair if an establishment allowing smoking makes the decision to go smoke-free on its own, and not from a government-imposed ban.
My home state of Illinois has suffered enough economic damage from a statewide smoking ban, such as statewide casino revenue suffering a greater decline versus casinos in neighboring states( http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2008/05/09/news/doc4823b930aaa5d812581598.txt ), and even one casino(in Metropolis, IL) laid off 30 employees after the state ban took effect. ( http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29455559.html ) In addition, I recall Casino Windsor(now Caesars Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario laid off 300 employees(which was 10% of their overall staff at the time), when Ontario's provincial smoking ban took effect in 2006, and I've seen economic data that shows gamblers in the Detroit/Windsor area now mostly favor Detroit casinos. I have also talked to many bar owners in both Illinois and Ohio in my travels, and there's no question to me that many have suffered major losses, bar employees losing income they used to make pre-smoking ban, and even such employees sometimes permanently losing their jobs since state bans took effect in both states. Many bars ignore the ban in Ohio, just to keep their doors open, and as evidenced by the site Smoke Choke Ohio( http://www.smokechoke.com ). In addition, please be on guard from falsely exaggerated claims from anti-smoking groups and individuals that make the claim that areas under smoking bans had a decrease hospital heart attack rates, when countless studies have ALL PROVEN their claims on secondhand smoke/environmental tobacco smoke to be false. (http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/conclusion-of-iom-report-on-smoking.html , http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/data-from-australia-show-no-effect-of.html , http://keepstlouisfree.blogspot.com/2009/09/smoking-bans-have-no-effect-on-heat.html , http://keepstlouisfree.blogspot.com/2009/08/cancer-epidemiologist-writes-to-st.html )
Please DO vote down this smoking ban expansion tonight, and only clarify the exemption in the existing ban for bowling alleys to also have to be 18 and up to permit smoking, just like bars. If Smoke Free Indy's site says 500 age-restricted businesses have prohibited smoking since 2006( http://www.smokefreeindy.com/2009/01/12/indianapolis-star-advocates-want-ban-on-smoking-broadened/ ), and the free market is addressing this issue, there clearly is NOT a need to force an unnecessary mandate for all smoking establishments to go smoke-free against their will.
-Allan(withholding my last name here for privacy reasons)
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