First, the State Assembly's Health Committee recently rejected a modification to the law whereby any bar could allow smoking so long as it installed an air-purification system. The state would need to get on board with the new city law I am proposing, so the new law would need to be something south of the 100% proposal that was rejected. Second, I wanted to start small. I think non-smokers would find it extremely difficult to argue against my proposal, as they would have plenty of non-smoking bars to go to. My initial goal is to allow at least some bars to have smoking and, as time goes on, we can see if the 30% number should be changed.
The primary is September 2005, with the general election in November '05. I am currently in the process of raising money and getting the word out about my campaign.