Posted on 10/30/2001 4:29:22 PM PST by Max McGarrity
| From: Bob Speck <bobspeck@attglobal.net> Date: Mon Oct 29, 2001 8:09 pm Subject: URGENT: Smoking Ban - Action Needed The Honolulu City Council will vote on a restaurant smoking ban November 7. They voted on this bill on October 17, but the bill did not get the required 5 votes to pass. The vote was 4 in favor and 3 against. Because 2 council members were missing, the vote was not final, and a motion to file to the November meeting was made and passed. If the bill does not get the required 5 votes (assuming all 9 members are present), it is dead. Of the 2 members who were absent, one is definitely opposed to the bill and the other is wavering. Those who voted against the bill will be under tremendous pressure from the anti's to change their vote. I very much need your help in fighting this bill. Please email the council members whose email addresses I have given below (7). I have omitted the addresses of two council members because it would be a waste of time to email them. I have also included the email address of Tony Vericella, who is the president of the Hawaii Tourist and Convention Bureau, so he will have ammunition to use. I have included the mayor's email address, because it will be up to him to veto the bill if it passes. Also, I have included the governor and the names of key legislators because the legislature is in special session this week at the request of the governor to consider ways to alleviate the drop-off in tourism - our most important industry. NOTE TO THOSE WHO PREVIOUSLY SENT EMAILS: Please send an email to Tony Vericella, as I did not include him on the original list. You only need make one point: If you cannot smoke in the restaurants in Honolulu, you will not visit Hawaii nor will your family. If you have visited Hawaii before and say that you enjoyed your previous visits, but will not come again if you cannot smoke in the restaurants, so much the better. Keep your messages brief and to the point. Do not get into a discussion of whether secondhand smoke is harmful. That will make your email too long, and they won't read it. The only point to be made here is that neither you nor your family will visit Hawaii if you cannot smoke in the restaurants. Be sure to include your name and address so they'll know you're from the mainland. That will get the attention of those with an open mind. This state is really concerned about the drop-off of the tourists since September 11. I believe there is no more urgent issue facing smokers than restaurant smoking bans, because they strike at the very heart of our enjoyment of life. Where we can be most effective in this battle is in the front line trenches, dealing with city councils and state legislatures. We accomplish much more by contacting these politicians directly than we do by letters to the editor, which go mostly unread. Can you imagine the effect on the City Council if they got 200 emails from mainland smokers saying they would not visit Hawaii if they could not smoke in the restaurants. This bill would not have a chance. The anti's are saying, "Smokers would not be deterred from visiting Hawaii just because they could not smoke in a restaurant. Why, they cannot smoke now on a 5 to 9 hour flight to get here, so they could certainly go for an hour without smoking in a restaurant." They do not understand that we don't go to a restaurant simply to eat, that an after-dinner smoke is part of our pleasurable experience--or they don't care. I realize I am asking a lot of you to send emails to these 15 individuals, and I certainly appreciate your efforts. If we can win this battle in the 11th largest city in the U.S., it will a major defeat for the anti's. Please blind copy (bcc) me on your email so I can gauge how effective we are. Thank you for your support. Bob Speck
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And - against a place so dependent on tourist cash - a massive tourism boycott by mainlanders sure wouldn't hurt.
:::thunk::::thunk:::: Is this thing on??
Hawaii was already fornia left/left and now it is off my list.
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