Pittsburgh Ponders Smoking Ban

AP | 1/10/03

[kattracks]

PITTSBURGH, Jan 10, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A century ago, the air in Steel City was so dirty that businessmen were said to have changed their shirts once or twice a day. Half a century ago, soot-covered downtown buildings had to be steam-cleaned.

Today, some say about the only smoke that's bothersome in Pittsburgh comes from indoor smokers.

The county that includes Pittsburgh is toying with the idea of taking its clean air campaign indoors by banning smoking in more than 8,000 restaurants and bars. Health officials announced this week they are looking at whether they have the authority to ban smoking and how far such a restriction can go.

If passed, the Pittsburgh region would join a growing number of cities and states that restrict places where people can smoke, said Don Schumaker, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco, which is affiliated with the American Lung Association.

New York, which has prohibited smoking in most restaurants since 1995, will add bars to the ban March 30. Boston has a similar ban. Chicago, Denver and Dallas are also considering bans, Schumaker said.

And while health-conscious California remains at the forefront of the fight, Florida in November passed an initiative to ban smoking in the workplace, including restaurants. The Sunshine State's ban will go into effect in July.

"We know smokers are damaged by cigarettes. We also know that secondhand smoke kills. I know people say it's a right-to-smoke issue but that right also infringes on people's right to breathe clean air, and that should stop," Schumaker said.

But a possible ban on smoking in restaurants and bars isn't just a health issue for Pittsburgh - it's also a way to dust off the city's industrial image.

"Over the years we have been working with community groups and other regulatory agencies to remove the image of the smoky city from Pittsburgh. There's no reason why we can't have full community involvement to look at a ban on indoor smoking," said Dave Zazac, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department.

He pointed to environmental improvements around Neville Island, an industrial island made up of many chemical and manufacturing plants on the Ohio River. Over the past decade, companies have made efforts to make the island livable and wildlife has slowly returned.

To the south of Pittsburgh, Zazac said five communities in the heart of the Monongahela River valley are trying to get the federal government to recognize their air quality improvements. An improved designation would be a major victory for the area that produced much of America's steel during World War II.

Some residents, however, predicted that the county will have a tough time getting smokers to kick the habit inside restaurants and bars.

"I think Pittsburgh is fairly working-class and I think people should enjoy their time where and how they want because they work hard," said Andrea Sciulli, 33, of Pittsburgh.

County health officials say the public needs to be protected. Seventy percent of the population doesn't smoke, Zazac said.

Smoking ban advocates commended the county, but worry that the effort will likely have to happen on the state level. Under Pennsylvania's 1988 Clean Indoor Air Act, restaurants with more than 75 seats have to provide a nonsmoking section. However, the act prohibits municipalities from banning smoking, Schumaker said.

"The battle has to be fought in Harrisburg so we can have the chance to fight the battle in Pittsburgh," Schumaker said.

Walter Kidney, 70, a lifelong Pittsburgh resident who grew up around the scent of coal wafting from the smokestacks, said a ban should be voluntary. Kidney, an architectural historian with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said he had smoked a pipe for 50 years until two years ago.

"There are places where you sit down and they expect you to light up. It should be up to the management inside," Kidney said.

Mort added that Pittsburgh has been and remains a smokers' town.

"No matter where you go, everybody is out on the street with a cigarette in the hand," Mort said.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[Max McGarrity]

ANTI-SMOKING LAW BLOCKS SMOKING BANS

(Dang, I do love the smell of unintended consequences in the morning.)

PITTSBURGH -- A budding movement to ban smoking in more than 8,000 restaurants and bars in and around Pittsburgh has been snuffed out by, of all things, an anti-smoking law.

County health officials who had been considering the ban discovered that a state law restricting smoking blocks an outright ban. In fact, the state law has been used to stamp out smoking bans in a half dozen communities.

"We asked the question, 'Do we have the authority to do this and if we do, do we want to do something?' The answer is we don't have the option. End of story," said Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department

Passed in 1988, the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Act requires government buildings, school, hospitals, restaurants and offices to have policies detailing where people are allowed to smoke, said Richard McGarvey, a spokesman for the state Health Department.

Bars, restaurants with room for fewer than 75 people, tobacco stores and factories and warehouses are exempt. Generally, the law created some smoke free areas, which helped clear the air.

But the state law also prohibits county or municipal officials, except in Philadelphia, from passing new bans on smoking unless they had one on the books before 1988.

Pittsburgh's ordinance, though in effect before 1988, is not a ban. Rather, it's similar to the state law, requiring restaurants with room for at least 50 people to have nonsmoking areas.

The state law's preclusion of strict new local laws has been frustrating anti-tobacco activists for 15 years, said Bill Godshall, head of SmokeFree Pennsylvania.

"It absolutely does nothing to protect people from smoke and takes away the rights of local governments to control tobacco," Godshall said.

A least a half-dozen communities, including Allentown, Bethlehem, Erie and townships in Montgomery County have had proposed no-smoking ordinances stamped out by the law, Godshall said.

Across the country, 31 states have similar laws preventing local governments from banning smoking, according to the American Lung Association.

Getting states to change those laws is a daunting task for smoking ban advocates, who are largely volunteers with passion but not much money.*

"We are limited but that doesn't mean we won't try," said Al Snider, president of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Pennsylvania.

On the other side, the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, which represents 1,500 eateries statewide, said it would continue to oppose any change of state law giving local governments the power to ban smoking.

"We have members that have gone smoke-free and that is fine, but that should be driven by the business owner and their respective customers, not the state," said Pat Conway, head of the industry group.

A growing number of cities and states ban indoor smoking.

New York, which has prohibited smoking in most restaurants since 1995, will add bars to the ban March 30. Boston has a similar ban. Chicago, Denver and Dallas are considering bans, said Don Schumaker, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco.

Pennsylvania Restaurant Association: http://www.parestaurant.org

*Riiiiiiight! Like Florida I suppose, where the American Cancer Society dumped $6 million to brainwash voters into a statewide ban.  And surely they don't get any of the $400 MILLION passed out each year to anti-smoker groups by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, or the $1 million each year provided to every state for "tobacco control" by the CDC, or the millions available from the AMA, NCI and ACS, or the $3 MILLION A DAY poured into the health nazi groups by Tommy Thompson's DHHS. Sure, I believe they don't have any money...like I believe Robber Reiner deserves $700 million a year extorted from California smokers.

[Just another Joe]

We also know that secondhand smoke kills. I know people say it's a right-to-smoke issue but that right also infringes on people's right to breathe clean air, and that should stop," Schumaker said.

#1 - How do they "know" that ETS kills? There is no scientific proof that this is the case.
#2 It's not a right-to-smoke issue, it's a property rights issue.

Under Pennsylvania's 1988 Clean Indoor Air Act, restaurants with more than 75 seats have to provide a nonsmoking section. However, the act prohibits municipalities from banning smoking, Schumaker said.

Yep, you gotta love unintended consequences. Especially in the morning.

[Great Dane]

a daunting task for smoking ban advocates, who are largely volunteers with passion but not much money.*

Since when does fanatics not have money.

[doosee]

Can anyone imagine Art Rooney (rest his soul) without a cigar? Ditka is from Pittsburgh too. Pittsburgh is not Santa Monica

[Gabz]

However, the act prohibits municipalities from banning smoking, Schumaker said.

The antis got that clause removed fromt the Delaware CIAA when they railroaded the ban through last June.