Posted on 04/22/2004 8:16:09 AM PDT by SheLion
A lot of Madison bar owners want to overturn a new smoking ban in taverns, restaurants and nearly all workplaces that starts in July 2005.
"There's an uprising. That's what I'm feeling out there," said Scott Stenger, spokesman for the Wisconsin Tavern League.
The City Council approved the sweeping ban by a 15-5 vote at about 1 a.m. Wednesday after four hours of public testimony from more than 50 speakers and council debate on a series of proposed exemptions that were rejected.
The Tavern League now intends to create a handout bar owners can give to patrons, identifying the council members who voted for the ban and how to contact them, Stenger said. The organization will work to modify the ban and to oust members who supported it, he said.
New City Council President Brenda Konkel said she welcomes the Tavern League's challenge and further discussion but believes most people support the ban.
"Seventy percent of people in the city of Madison don't smoke, and the City Council was just representing what many of our constituents want," she said.
Konkel also said she doesn't think the council would be open to modifying the ban.
"Many of us are happy to put this to rest and move on to other issues," Konkel said.
Smoke-free supporters were well organized, unraveling a compromise ban passed 16 months ago that didn't affect bars, Stenger said.
"We're partly to blame for this," he said. "I don't think we're going to let it happen again."
The city joins New York City, California and at least four other states and more than 70 municipalities in the nation with sweeping smoking rules.
The ban exempts private clubs; retail tobacco stores; up to 25 percent of rooms in bed and breakfasts, motels and hotels; and until Jan. 2, 2006, existing separately ventilated smoking rooms.
The council rejected amendments that would have allowed smoking in bars after 10 p.m., tobacco bars, and bars with more than 75 percent alcohol sales.Ald. Mike Verveer, the former council president who represents the Downtown entertainment district and who tried unsuccessfully to add exemptions to the ban, said it will bring "tremendous unintended consequences," especially when smokers leave crowded bars to smoke, then try to get back inside.
He said he feels sorry for Downtown bar owners and staff who will have to enforce the ban.
Others, meanwhile, are concerned about other problems, such as cigarette butts - once left inside bars, instead being dropped on the sidewalk and running into the city's lakes.
Reporter Beth Williams contributed to this story. Contact Dean Mosiman at dmosiman@madison.com or 252-6141
Same crap here in Burlington, Vermont.
I quit smoking 10 years ago and always get a smile when I see cartons of cigs are now almost $40 when I remember getting a carton of Luckies and Pall Malls for $1 each on Okinawa in the 50s.
But if a joint gets too smoky for me I go somewhere else!
"joint" meaning bar-restaraunt, of course!
Three years ago, when Maine raised taxes on cigarettes, making my premiums $45-$50 a carton, I threw my hands in the air and said that's it. I was told by friends in Free Republic about rolling my owns.
So for over three years, I have been rolling my own for under $8 dollars a carton and I am no longer paying into the state coffers. I wish everyone would learn about this.
Let the Hogs at the State House go elsewhere to support their little pet programs. They make me sick!
I'm a nonsmoker who thinks government has no business telling people what they may allow on their own property (so long as it stays confined to their property, as tobacco smoke in any significant concentration does).
"joint" meaning bar-restaraunt, of course!
Well duh, otherwise you want those joints to be as smokey as possible :-O
Polluting the air wasn't good enough for mindless smokers, now you're gonna pollute the drinking water with your cigarette butts.
Do you smokers also throw your trash out the windows?
Let the business owner and his patrons decide. NOT the state. These business's are not state owned. Yet they think they can just go in and "rule the roost!"
Not NEAR as much as you throw trash out of your MOUTH!
Simple sollution.................since the city is banning the smoking indoors, the city should be providing receptacles for the cigarette butts, thus solving the problem. But of course that will never be done, as it is too logical.
And so owners and staff now have to act as city enforcement agents, they also have to serve as the city sanitation department.
Not yet, but if it aggravates non smokers I will start.
I do have compassion for those of you who drink from gutters, I really do, but
how does a pinch of plant leaf and a smidgeon of paper (made from trees) pollute the water?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.