Hooray....Smoking Ban Compromise Reached! (Milwaukee, Cato: 2009, house, casino)

[quijote]

The last I heard (~4 days ago), cigar bars and tobacco shops will be excluded from the proposed ban making its way through the Wisconsin legislature. Perhaps this is the compromise referred to?

In any case, if a bar loses business due to a state-wide smoking ban, perhaps that bar needs to focus a bit more on the essentials, such as quality of beverages, atmosphere, customer service, etc. It seems kind of odd that smoking should have to sustain a bar or tavern.

[Milwaukee City]

It seems kind of odd that smoking should have to sustain a bar or tavern.

Yeah I never bought that argument either, however when your a hole in the wall tavern in tosa and Milwaukee doesn't have smoking ban then I could see this happening but that's about it. I usually go to nice places so I never have to worry about this.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Hooray...Government Tells Me How To Run My Business.

I hate smoking and I don't go to smoky bars but it should be up to bar/restaurant owners to decided if they want to become a smoky bar or not. What ever happened to personal choice and free market.

Laws are needed to prevent people's "choices" from infringing on the rights of others. I don't care if smokers smoke crack in their homes. but once they
get their stink all over me and my clothes they are interfering with my right not to stink.

[JDCATONSVILLE]

I am really thankful that Wisconsin has come around and will be passing a state wide smoking ban. I moved here from Maryland, which passed the same ban several years ago and not one business lost money because of the law being passed. In fact many reported the opposite due to the fact that a lot more non-smokers started comming out to the bars now. I have two small children and when we moved here and went to a restaurant and had someone puffing away a few tables over it just ruines your whole meal.I don't want my kids to have to be exposed to that, that's the whole reason I quit so many years ago. I used to smoke and at that time I had no clue at how I was infringing on the rights of others, I also didn't notice how nasty and disgusting of a habbit it really was. But when my wife became pregnant I knew I had an obligation to my children to give them the best life possible and that included them not having to be exposed to my habit. Of all the laws that our government has passed to benifit their political carrers or their pockets and there is not this much of a fuss as with a law that will actually make the quality of life for people better. I have enough things to worry about with watching my cholesteral, weight, and and not wanting to develope high blood pressure the last thing I want to do is develope cancer due to being exposed to someone else's habit. I say way to go Wisconsin...breath deep and breath free (clean air).

[gea12345]

I like Oregons law. NO smoking inside restaurants. Yes,Smoking at bars. Then the people who don't like smoke can go to the restaurant and the people who like smoking can go to the bars. I left 5 years ago and it appeared to be working very well. That way people with children can go to restuaruants and they can't complain. Or stay at home, where their air is clean.

But i don't like it that it is okay to have a smelly truck idling ror driving by while i am eating, but I am not allowed to sit outside and smoke a cigaratte. Lastly, the restaurants do not OWN the sidewalk and should not be able to dictate what you do while you are on the sidewalk.

And people that don't like smokers near their buildings should get off their hinds and do something about the cars polluting the air and the factories polluting the water.

People priorities are very messed up! While our food is slowly being sythesized in farm laboratories. And we try to force other countries to buy our synthesized tomatoes!

[JDCATONSVILLE]

I agree with the decline of our produce as well as meat with these factory farms and all the chemicals, hormones and antibiotics they get pumped into our foods, this needs to end as well. And nobody likes to smell the nasty exhaust off of a vehicle that is putting of high emissions. But it's funny when someone who smokes and pollutes the air around them just as bad complain about these other things. I like to go to a bar every now and then just like the next guy but I can't stand to smell like a stinky ashtray when I'm done. Peolpe just don't get it, smoking is bad for everyone and it stinks and no one wants to smell it. And if the peolpe that smoked had any sense of smell left they would probably not be happy with the way they smell either.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by JDCATONSVILLE

Peolpe just don't get it, smoking is bad for everyone and it stinks and no one wants to smell it. And if the peolpe that smoked had any sense of smell left they would probably not be happy with the way they smell either.

This is what it's all about. The second hand-smoke thing is what gets all of this through the courts, but really we are just tired of smokers and the stink they spread around. People can agree or disagree, but it really doesn't matter, the majority of people in civilized countries don't smoke and they don't want to be around smoke. So it's time for smokers to make a decision-do they want to continue being herded outside like cattle? The group in parkas outside office buildings trying to light up in a blowing snowstorm? Or do they finally want to show a little discipline and be like the rest of the nicotine addicts who made a commitment and quit.

[MisterTwisty]

When Illinois' smoking ban went into place, the majority of towns in the state largely disregarded the law. Residents, business owners, judges and cops almost universally have written the law off as unenforcable. Whether the media has been honest or not about it. The Chicago Tribune did a piece on bar owners bucking the smoking ban in "downstate" Illinois ("downstate illinois is anywhere not in chicago).

Now, in illinois, some local governments have turned to writing ordinance tickets, turning the ban into a payday for city police department coffers. What a shame and what a sham...

Wisconsin's general assembly better hope they write and pass their smoking ban so that it gives someone (besides regulatory agencies like the health department) authority to enforce it. Otherwise, after two or three weeks of "smoke-free Wisconsin" the ashtrays will come out again, and that familiar old blue haze will again be seen in those little country roadhouses.

If it ever goes away in the first place. Rural states I think will always have a hard time policing smoking in public.

[Drover]

I know of at least a handful of bars in Chicago that have become de facto "private clubs" where if you're not a regular, you're not welcome any more unless a trusted regular brings you with. This is to keep busybody smoke Nazis out. I know of one bar downstate that openly defies the law because the owner reckons his other alternative is to close his business, so he intends to stay open for as long as he can until the state shuts him down. The bar business in downtown Urbana has definitely suffered. My favorite bar there is practically empty now and it breaks my heart because it's a solid place with a great beer selection. (That said, most of Champaign's downtown bar business appears to be doing fine.) And the casinos are pretty much on life support now -- the boat in Elgin for instance has laid off 25% of its staff, including my friend's wife. So I don't want to hear about how the smoking ban hasn't hurt business because I see evidence all around that it has either hurt business or compelled owners to become lawbreakers just to keep their doors open.

[jwhalun08]

People pissed and moaned when this same measure became a law not so long ago in Ohio. We all heard the same sorts of arguments: "This is going to shut bars, restaurants, taverns down"/"This is great for all the employees and patrons of bars, restaurants, and taverns." The latter, not surprisingly, has come true. No bar that I know of (and I can think of more than 40 off the top of my head between Cleveland and Athens) shut down as a result of this law. Today, smokers merely do their business outside the premises...even though they usually can't do so legally. That is, our state has a stipulation stating that smokers must be at least fifteen feet away from a place of business. But, unfortunately, that provision isn't enforced to any degree whatsoever.