CO: Ban Damage: CO And now, the roofs begin tumbling down

United Pro Smoker's Newsletter ^ | July 26, 2006 | Bill Johnson

[SheLion]

The issue is no longer just about smoking.

Passing a state law outlawing smoking in most public places was, by this comparison, the easiest thing to do.

The law was not required to address the inevitable hardships such a bill was destined to inflict.

There was clapping and backslapping on the floor of the state Senate the afternoon it passed there. But none of that really matters now, when the issue is one of how it impacts people's lives.

They are men and women who once ran tiny, yet prosperous, packed-to- the-kegs establishments, who now tend mostly empty bars. The looks on their faces would be no different had their roofs actually fallen in.

They call me. What am I supposed to do, I ask? Write about it, they respond.

What has happened is a statewide tragedy, sponsored by the government. And where are all of the people, they all want to know, that the government promised would flock to their now-smoke-free bars?

The loudest of them, of course, has been Jim VonFeldt, owner of the venerable Billy's Inn at 44th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard.

In the weeks between the governor's signing of the bill and July 1, when the law went into effect, he rallied a relatively small band of tavern owners to challenge the law in court.

A judge denied their sought-after injunction. The litigation itself remains pending in the courts.

Jim VonFeldt has just returned to Billy's from his banker when he calls me, yet again.

He has owned the place for 21 years; his wife's family owned it for nearly 20 years before that. His two grown children are his only employees.

And now, he wants to talk.

It is just after 1 p.m. when I walk into the joint. The only sound emanates from a television in the corner, droning a detective show. Only bearded, vacant-eyed Jay, who has occupied the same far-corner barstool for decades, inhabits the place.

Jim VonFeldt walks up from the back, carrying a large stack of documents. He begins reading from them.

Total business is off 35.14 percent since July 1, he begins. Liquor sales, jukebox, cigarette, vending and Lotto scratch-off machine receipts have declined in 23 short days by at least half.

"That video golf game used to average $75 to $100 a week. The last two weeks, the vendor and I split the 6 bucks that were in it," Jim VonFeldt says.

"Where are all these people the government told me would make my life better? My most loyal customers come, but maybe they have a drink. Most have just stopped coming altogether."

As leader of the Coalition for Equal Rights, the tavern owners' group, he gets calls every day, he says. Three come in as we chat, including one from the lawyer representing the group.

"This is simply crippling," he moans into the phone to the lawyer. Hanging up, he beseeches me to look at the blue folder in front of him. It is filled with his complete financial records, the same ones he has just handed his banker at Chase to leverage his house to the hilt in order to pay his bills. I decline.

So he hands me his state workers compensation bill.

"I don't have the money. All of my cash flow has been depleted," Jim VonFeldt said. "And if I don't have workers comp, I can be fined up to $17,000. I don't know what I am going to do."

To emphasize his point, he walks me to the automatic teller machine I had used a month before.

A large "out of order" sign now lies across the keyboard.

"I don't have enough $20 bills to put in it," he says.

He reads from a stack of notes taken during myriad recent conversations with Coalition members, of patrons saying they are going outside for a smoke but never come back, of fights the bartenders inside can no longer break up, of thieves cleaning out cash registers when bartenders themselves sneak out for a drag or two.

Many owners, Jim VonFeldt says, are doing what he did two days ago: writing Bill Owens and begging for an exemption to the law.

"The ban has decimated my business," his letter to the governor begins. "I am one or two weeks away from bankruptcy.

"If I lose this, so goes my whole family. Please grant this exemption for my family."

The last sentence he has typed in large bold letters.

While he waits to hear back from the governor, he fumes.

"We've got young men now fighting all over the world for what they tell us is for democracy and freedom," Jim VonFeldt, 60, said.

"Yet our own government is taking away my freedom to operate my business right here at home. It's just not right."

He sighs.

"At a time when I should be planning for retirement and the good things in life, the only thing I'm planning is how to survive. If I fail - and this worries me the most - I fail my children.

"I don't know what I am going to do."

[Gabz]

Why? Do they miss the stench on their hair and clothing, or were they too cheap to buy their own smokes and settled on second hand?

Actually, they prefer avoiding people as nasty as you tend to be, which tend to be the only people in the places they used to frequent anymore.

The smell of tobacco smoke, if one dislikes it, can be removed with soap and water........the stench of control freaks is bone deep and can never be removed.

[Gabz]

They put their logic on display in every one of these threads.

It would make for a fascinating study, wouldn't it? I wonder if we could get a grant to look into it? Maybe RWJF????? ROFL!

[Republicus2001]

this absolutely killed the neighborhood bar industry in the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley. The few remaining are skank crack joints...I wonder where are the WWII vets are going...staying home 'spose

believe it or not you can't smoke at the beach anymore either ... tobacco that is ... smoking pot is OK

[Moonman62]

I go to non-smoking bars around where I live and they are packed, even though there are still smoking bars.

[Axenolith]

That's about the stupidest thing I've seen in a while. Per your premise in that asinine missive, it's the governments responsibility to facilitate an ever changing and challenging business environment??? For what comrade, so the capital doesn't accumulate in any ones hands for to long???

The dude's making money securely, the government comes along and poles him in the rear, and you're comment is "Gee, better get with the innovation ball"... Sheesh... It's to much...

[Gabz]

I go to non-smoking bars around where I live and they are packed, even though there are still smoking bars.

Which just further proves the point that government mandated smoking bans are not needed.

Thank you for proving what we have all been saying all along.

[CSM]

"I go to non-smoking bars around where I live and they are packed, even though there are still smoking bars."

So what is your problem?

[Beagle8U]

"I go to non-smoking bars around where I live and they are packed, even though there are still smoking bars."

Thats great, if you stay in those you should have no problems with the others.

[SheLion]

Guys like this one, who refuse to adjust and instead of focusing on improving his business are focused on trying to keep things they way they were are going to die, and while they can blame the smoking ban for it, the real reason they are going to die is their own failure to adapt.

And I guess you think he is the only one across the United States that is suffering?  And who is the only one who might lose his business? 

Check this out:

THE REAL FACTS OF THE SMOKING BANS IMPACT ON BUSINESS'S
The Facts

[Moonman62]

So what is your problem?

Nothing. I enjoy seeing the tide turning against the smokers who have had no respect for other people's person and property. I like to poke fun at tobacco addicts who are in denial, and lately the conspiracy theories have been icing on the cake when it comes to entertainment.

[SheLion]

I am one person talking to businesses where I spend money and apparently I am not alone.

And the same with our side, Ditter.

[Just another Joe]

I enjoy seeing the tide turning against the smokers who have had no respect for other people's person and property.

Other people person and property? You have GOT to be kidding.
You just said that there were both smoking and nonsmoking establishments where you live and that nonsmoking establishments were doing just fine.
The GOVERNMENT comes in and has NO respect for BUSINESS OWNERS persons or property and you are just fine with that?

Your agenda is showing also. again.

[SheLion]

Non-smokers never have and never will patronize those places they claimed to be chased out from by secondhand smoke. The whole sad story of non-smokers being trapped in their own homes because of evil smokers was a lie.

The professional anti-smokers lied to the business owners.  They told them that their business would INCREASE if they didn't allow smoking.  That all the non smokers would be picking up the slack.

Well, it just didn't happen. 

[HamiltonJay]

No the supidist thing posted in a long time has to be your assertion that what I am stating is wrong. Capitalism is an adapt or die business climate.

This guy is a very lousy entrepreneur, he knew the climate for his business was going to change, and he stood by and did absolutely nothing to adapt to it, and even after the change has gone into effect has still done nothing but whine.

The law was passed by duly elected representatives.. charges of tyranny are comical. However what is more comical is the implication that businesses are not regulated by the government. Business are not private individuals, and are subject to the laws that govern them. Don't like those laws, you can work to change them, or stop engaging in business.

This guy didn't think ahead, and while I have no issue if he wants to fight the changes, as a businessman he should have been adapting to them before they even took effect. For every guy like this, who just kept doing the exact same thing in the environment that changed, you can find another that adapted and has not only kept their business but grown it. Of course a story of one of those places won't serve the advocacy group that published this story, so don't expect it told.

I lived in places with and without smoking bans, and I can tell you, the crowds are no smaller in places that don't allow smoking than places that do allow it. The notion that folks aren't going to, or stop going out and drink, or eat or party in large numbers because they can't smoke is comical.

Adapt or Die.. .doesn't matter what changes your environment, whether its a new competitor, or some politician allowing slave labor goods imported duty free... you adapt or you die.. that's how it is in business.

[SheLion]

'Where are my nonsmokers that the city promised me?'

July 20, 2005 

 MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Some Madison tavern owners say their revenues are going up in smoke because of the city's new smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

The city ordinance took effect July 1, with Madison joining about 20 other Wisconsin cities with some kind of ban on smoking.

The move created a firestorm of controversy, with smokers accusing the City Council of trying to run their lives. A faction of aldermen already wants to repeal the ban, and Republican legislators are trying to pass a bill to water down local ordinances statewide.

''It's terrible, absolutely terrible,'' said Cal Beecher, owner of the Tip Top Tavern. ''I've been here 32 years. It's going to close me down.''

Terry Olson, co-owner of Ole 'N Rick's North Side Inn in Madison, said business is down 60 percent and he started cutting back shifts for three or four bartenders Monday.

''If we can't make it with that, we'll have to lay somebody off,'' he said.

Owners said blue-collar bars on the city's east side are being especially hard hit by the new rules. First-time violators face up to $125 in fines if they don't quit or leave. A second offense carries a maximum $500 fine.

Ryan Eisenhut of Cottage Grove said he used to hit Madison bars at least three times a week on his way home from work. On Wednesday, he was at Tully's II in Monona.

No fun anymore

''The downtown bars are fun, but not anymore. The fact that they don't have smoking now, I won't go there,'' he said. ''Wait until it's 10 below and they try to get people out there in the parking lot [to smoke].''

Patty Telvick, general manager of the Buckeye Inn, said her regulars have disappeared and nonsmokers have not taken their place.

''Where are my nonsmokers that the city promised me?'' Telvick said.

Dave Wiganowsky, owner of Wiggie's, said nonsmokers do not spend enough to make up for the loss of customers.

''We had two nonsmokers,'' Wiganowsky said. ''They bought two cans of pop and said, 'Isn't this wonderful?' and walked out. That won't pay the light bill.''

Meanwhile, bars just outside Madison are reporting an increase in customers.

In Fitchburg, Monkeyshines has ''picked up quite a few customers,'' said day manager Jason Cushman.            

[Beagle8U]

"I enjoy seeing the tide turning against the smokers who have had no respect for other people's person and property."

I enjoy seeing some big farmer put his cigarette out in some dork's ear, when they go into a place they know will be Smokey and swish their hand around and bitch about smokers.

To each his own I guess.

[SheLion]

Yeah. I know. You're REALLY shocked by that. LOL!

hehe

[Axenolith]

Asking is SCARY social interaction. Better to get nanny G to handle it and stay insulated from interaction...

[Sofa King]

"The smell of tobacco smoke, if one dislikes it, can be removed with soap and water........the stench of control freaks is bone deep and can never be removed."

Nice.

[metesky]

Is that what the RWJF told you to say?