When they forced a smoking ban on the state of Maine, a lot of businesses closed and the ones that stayed open had to cut back staff and reduce hours. This BS about smoking bans not choking the economy is just not true!
Tell that $hit to the more than 25 restarants and bars that closed their doors in Toledo. I know it happened, because I live here. Some of them had been around for 30 years or more. Nobody knows about it because the damned media refuse to report it. Oh-one bowling alley, too. Had been there for 40 years. The citizens voted to modify it-bars, bingo halls, private clbs, bowling alleys, and restaurants with ten or less employees are now exempt-as are any businesses who choose to install ventilation for a seperately enclosed smokers area. The usual suspects (ACS,AHA,ALA) were pissed about it-so now the same people are going for a statewide ban.
When they forced a smoking ban on the state of Maine, a lot of businesses closed and the ones that stayed open had to cut back staff and reduce hours. This BS about smoking bans not choking the economy is just not true!
There are a lot of reasons that businesses close their doors and I don't believe that you can specifically attribute any of them to a ban on smoking. Sometimes businesses close because they are badly managed. Others because trends change and something new opened down the street that sucked their customers away. The fact remains that smokers still eat, whether they can smoke or not.
Lots of businesses closed as the result of the recent downturn in the economy. Too many people out of work, not enough income. Doesn't mean that a ban on smoking was the cause.
I know I won't change your mind, you already have convinced yourself that the smoking ban is the cause of it all. There is way too much evidence to prove that the smoking ban has had no harmful effect on business operations. Smokers can still smoke, they just can't do it inside a restaurant, anymore. In the long run, they are too small a minority to have asignificant effect on most businesses.