They interviewed the coordinator of the smoke free alliance and he said there was no or very little impact on businesses from smoking bans. I guess we'll find out this fall.
I posted this article this morning about all of Illinois not going smoke free. I commend them! Let the owners decide!
Illinois: Smokers welcome, cities say
City and village leaders in Gibson City, Gifford, Mahomet, Monticello, Paxton, Philo, Rantoul, Savoy, St. Joseph, Tolono and Villa Grove all say they have no plans to follow Champaign's lead in passing a comprehensive smoking ban, which will be effective Aug. 1 if Urbana approves a similar ordinance in the next several weeks.
Meanwhile, business owners in the surrounding communities say Champaign-Urbana smokers will be welcome there. They anticipate increased sales from C-U smokers looking for a place to puff.
As for smoking bans not hurting businesses, this just isn't so. Thousands of restaurants and bars across the country have closed when they were forced to go smoke free.
THE REAL FACTS OF THE SMOKING BANS IMPACT ON BUSINESS'S
The Facts
I forgot to mention in the previous post that neither city would go ahead with a ban unless the other did. Evidently, they didn't believe all the talking points from the smoke free alliance.
Mrs. O'Leary's tavern in Gaithersburg, MD actually threw out a member of the Gaithersburg City Council after it was discovered that she supported the city's smoking ban. A little bit of justice for the Smoking Nazis, as far as I'm concerned.