Smoke Free Chicago

the bar scene in my hometown in northeast wi died, i mean just flatlined, shortly after that law was passed. but eating at a restaurant is pleasant.

edit: i should say i haven't been back since last june, and i don't know if the bar scene has made any recovery. i imagine, it being wisconsin and all, people will just get over it and go out to have some drinks. i'll report back when we go back in a few weeks.

 

It's wonderful, truly wonderful. I love it! Whenever I go to Las Vegas or Arizona it makes me appeciate smoke-free restaurants/bars/indoors in Cali that much more. As a non-smoker, I cannot stand the smell of smoke at all, and especially hate that when you're in places that allow smoking inside, your clothes and hair reek of smoke afterwards.

I don't know about business going under because of the no-smoking law: all the bars and restaurants around here allow smoking outside, so people just head outside to have a smoke.

I definitely go out more to eat as a result of not having to be around smoky interior air. It's nice being able to shoot some pool, have some dinner, watch a hockey game, or go to an indoor venue concert and not having do deal with wafting smoke or secondhand inhalation. Fantastic!!

 

Florida has been a clean-air state for quite some time now, and I haven't seen businesses closing because of it. I don't mind, as I'm a non-smoker. Around here businesses are doing just fine.

Actually let me qualify the non-smoker label. I don't smoke cigarettes, but I love cigars. My favorite restaurant here in Tampa, Bern's Steakhouse, used to have a desert and cigar room upstairs. Great place to go after a great steak and have a glass of port, some desert and a good cigar. Now you can only have a great glass of port and the delicious desert. Wait, still doesn't sound too bad...

 

Longmont, Colorado recently went smoke free. (A few years back). A local restaurant owner complained that all of her patrons smoked (she owns several restauarants in this small town) and that she would have to close all of her restaurants because people would no longer go out to eat if they couldn't smoke.

Lo and behold, two years later, sales are up. She recently opened another restaurant! So, instead of having the 15% of the population in Colorado that smokes, she now has the 85% that doesn't. She has now recanted and said going smoke free has been good for business.

Boulder has been smoke free for years. It's standing room only at bars every weekend.

I recently went back to Michigan and was appalled to be forced to inhale the smoke at Mongolian Barbecue. It's a chain like McDonald's, I couldn't believe they allowed the guy to smoke in the middle of the room and make the rest of us breathe it!

Michigan has one of the highest levels of smoking in the USA. It's one of the reasons I'm glad I don't live there.

Did you hear the Westin is going smoke free Nationwide? Only 7% of their guests request smoking rooms. I guess those 7% are going to have to stay at the Motel 6!

Nate

 

Going smoke free in California was actually voted on by the people, and the initiative passed with a pretty good margin. The law had a "gotcha" though in that it first banned smoking in bars (the last bastion of smoking indoors at the time), and then extended to crowded outdoor venues, and finally to outlaw all smoking in any "public place" (such as the beach, city park, walking on the sidewalk, etc.) The final step was never enacted, though, and I don't recall why. So you can still smoke while walking down the street.

There is an appreciable difference between California's mild climate and Chicago. It will be hard to expect people to stand outside and smoke when its 10 below (not counting the wind chill).

 

Any talk about bars and restaurant going out of business is pure tobacco company propaganda.

Italy is approaching the first anniversary of its nationwide ban on smoking in public places. It has been warmly accepted by the public and cigarette consumption has dropped 8 percent so far.
http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/conte...stract/mdj070v1

CDC: Declines in Lung Cancer Rates --- California, 1988--1997
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4947a4.htm

Anyone who bitches and moans about smoking bans is probably a smoker. I don’t mind if a smoker smokes . . . just don’t do it near me.

If Italy can do it, anyone can. Of course, a smoking ban in China or Russia may be met with violence.

 

I can't really answer the original question, but, hey, this is Fred's, so...

In Fargo there was never any problem with restaurants, in my opinion, because the locally-owned restaurants I prefered were smoke-free anyway, by decision of the owners. But to the best of my knowledge there was no smoke-free bar in the city, and I'd have liked to be able to go to a bar now and then.

A smoking ban went into effect yesterday in my new state (WA). Since non-smokers outnumber smokers 5 to 1 here, I expect businesses to profit in spite of themselves. I'm not a nighttime person, though. Nor do I like driving after dark.

 

If you can do it I think a night out just for a drink or light meal is a great way to show support for non smoking venues. The switch over will be tough for the venue owners as they find a new clientel. Many smokers have planned their revenge against the smoke free rules and bar owners will suffer, so non smokers need to support the move by moving into the vacant chairs and neutralise the smokers protest.

Enjoy life smoke free.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Sep 30 2007, 04:46 PM) [snapback]519594[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, it takes awhile for the smell to go away. IE tear the fabrics out and isnatll new stuff. LOL

I will not eat at a restaurant that allows smoking if I can help it. IE, I'll just go get fast food instead of sitting in a closed space breathing in someone else's filthy habit. I compare it to eating my dinner in a bathroom stall next to someone who is "sick". It is just that disgusting to me.

I hate Reno and Vegas for those reasons. I come home smelling like nicotine a$#.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Sep 30 2007, 04:59 PM) [snapback]519599[/snapback]</div>

That is what I do. Same goes for any establishment that shows great service or anything else above normal or that is thoughtful. It's nice to hear good replies rather than just complaints.

 

Before Massachusetts made bars smoke-free, I could never get into a bar because I'd get sick.

After Massachusetts made bars smoke-free, I could never get into a bar because it's too packed.

 

MN went smoke free as of today, will have to wait and see about the results. IMO it's better to have it state wide as opposed to city bans, but I wonder about the effect in boarder towns like Morehead or Stillwater though.

 

tleonhar, you have to remember that some counties/cities in the state were already smoke-free, and they did just fine against their neighbors just a few miles away.

For me, i LOVE that the state just went smoke-free. Last winter i joined a pool league and a bowling league, and both were in smoking venues. This year, they won't be, and i can't wait. It'll be nice to FINALLY not have to have "bar clothes" and "everything else" clothes.

 

Very true Eagle, I did hear a good bit of whining from some of the metro area bar owners, but I havn't heard of any going out of business. My point is now that it's state wide, they'll no longer have the "my customers went elswhere" point to complain about.

 

Yes in Fla we have the clean indoor air act. Most bars allow smoking inside, restraunts however in inclement weather the smokers congergate at the front doors or the covered areas..

I thought there was a city somewhere that was trying to pass a smoking ban in the city limits?

Thats just wrong, what if they banned alcohol, Oh well its just another way that Big Brother is controlling what you do. Eventually you people will wake up, but not before its too late. h34r:

 

I thought I heard that about some city over here as well. The city of Makati (Metro Manila, Philippines) does have an outdoor ban within the city limits, there smoking is only permitted in private residences or in designated smoking areas of a business. If you are caught walking down the street smoking, it's something like a P700 (about US $15) fine.

 

I do know of a couple of bars that went out of business DUE to the ban in Hennepin county, MN. Resteraunts seem to do just fine if not better. Bars are affected based on their clientele. A so called biker bar is going to be hurt by this and a so called uptown wine bar will do better.

Oh well. I think smoking should be banned indoors, but with a few exeptions. I think a bar should have the option of having a "smoking room" with it's own ventilation. You could have a glass cube with jail bars painted on it for irony!
As for banning smoking outside, what the hell is that? As if a someone walking down the street with a smoke is more harmul than the UPS truck rolling by. I can understand "crowded" outside venues like stadiums, but parks, sidewalks, etc..that's BS. You're talking about persecution and harassment of a large portion of the public, and not public health at that point.