Hooray....Smoking Ban Compromise Reached! (Two Rivers: 2010, home, closing)

[FormerCaliforniaGirl]

According to the Northwestern newspaper, a compromise has been reached and a smoking ban on all smoking in restaurants, bars, taverns and workplaces (with a very few exceptions) is likely to commence in Spring of 2010.

That will make Wisconsin the 27th state to enact a state-wide smoking ban.

[zz4guy]

Good luck, WIsconsin. Iowa caved to smoking nazis like this one ^^ last year. A lot of small and medium town bars closed because of lack of business.

Most people want to enjoy a cigarette and a beer at the end of the day. What is so wrong with that? Nobody forces you to go to that bar. Stay the hell out if it bothers you.

[FormerCaliforniaGirl]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Good luck, WIsconsin. Iowa caved to smoking nazis like this one ^^ last year. A lot of small and medium town bars closed because of lack of business.

Most people want to enjoy a cigarette and a beer at the end of the day. What is so wrong with that? Nobody forces you to go to that bar. Stay the hell out if it bothers you.

Yours is the same old tired argument. The poor bar owners will have to shut down.

Well, this didn't happen in California when the state-wide smoking ban went into affect there. All the smokers and bar owners whined that the bars would have to close their doors. But it didn't happen. Smokers just got used to going outside to smoke. And they will in Wisconsin too.

[geekduo]

The weather is waaayyy different in Wisconsin than California.
I am happy that the ban will go into effect in all restaurants and such, but have mixed feelings about the taverns. There should be some type of compromise that could be reached for taverns. Like maybe only non-food serving(chips and snacks not included) taverns would allow smoking or some such thing. And regulate better ventilation and filtering or something.

[zz4guy]

Originally Posted by FormerCaliforniaGirl

Yours is the same old tired argument. The poor bar owners will have to shut down.

Well, this didn't happen in California when the state-wide smoking ban went into affect there. All the smokers and bar owners whined that the bars would have to close their doors. But it didn't happen. Smokers just got used to going outside to smoke. And they will in Wisconsin too.

Well, I'm just telling you from experience! Iowa did have a lot of closings. And Iowa is much more like Wisconsin than it is California

I would be ok if it was a localy controlled ban. Ie Des Moines can ban their bars and Cedar Rapids won't. But the stupid state wide ban improsed itself on communities that were perfectly happy with the way things were going. In fact some bars in NW Iowa ignored the law because nobody complained. That is until out of town busy bodies showed up and fined the crap out of them.

[UW Badgers]

And Iowa is much more like Wisconsin than it is California

We are in Cedar Rapids(5 years now)after being in Wisconsin our whole lives. Iowa is nothing like Wisconsin no matter how you are trying to compare them. Wisconsin wins hands down.

We walk by plenty of bars and their parking lots are never empty. Plenty of people hanging around still. People were afraid the restaurants were going to suffer too. Not. Any given day the restaurants here are packed. I think my husband and I are the only ones that eat at home. Friday or Saturday night after 5, forget it, you'll wait an hour for a table.

Funny thing is that most of the people that whine about it are the same people who won't smoke in their own home or car. If you can't get off a bar stool for 5 minutes to have a smoke outside, then that's your own problem and fits the "lazy Iowan" that we see every single day here. I've never seen so many cry babies in my life, then when this law passed in Iowa, you would have thought the world had ended.

I say, great for Wisconsin. It makes moving home even better.

[dreamhunter65]

They used to have beer bars liquor bars, why not make smoking bars and non smoking bars? Everyone could be happy this way.

[BacktoNE]

Originally Posted by geekduo

The weather is waaayyy different in Wisconsin than California.
I am happy that the ban will go into effect in all restaurants and such, but have mixed feelings about the taverns. There should be some type of compromise that could be reached for taverns. Like maybe only non-food serving(chips and snacks not included) taverns would allow smoking or some such thing. And regulate better ventilation and filtering or something.

Maine has a similar climate to WI. Maine has had a State-wide smoking ban in place for several years. Not one bar went out of business due to the smoking ban. Most reported increased business because non-smokers started going out again.

[Drover]

"According to the Northwestern newspaper, a compromise has been reached and a smoking ban on ALL smoking in restaurants, bars, taverns and workplaces (with a very few exceptions) is likely to commence in Spring of 2010."

So what exactly is the "compromise?" That they have, in their glorious benevolence, declined to taser you on the spot for smoking on a public sidewalk?

[susancruzs]

A popular bar and restaurant here in Two Rivers went no smoking on their own and it hasn't affected their business one bit according to them. The main eating area is beyond the bar but there are a few tables and booths in the bar area that were smoking before but no more, no big deal.

People mention Iowa, well Illinois went no smoking, too, I think. When you look at the map, more and more states are on the band wagon, a few are just restaurants and bars, then you have a lot of localities that do their own thing because the state can't get their act together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

People need to get over it, it is a health issue not a matter of government control and being in a persons life. I was sickly, around very heavy smokers, mom smoked, I had adult respiratory diseases as a child, spent time in the hospital because they couldn't figure out what was wrong. I don't care what anyone says I believe in 2nd hand smoke damage, I have the scar tissue and lungs to prove it.