Posted on 12/18/2002 7:29:03 PM PST by ozone1
Hey, Boston get your butts over here!
By Deborah Eisner / Chronicle Staff Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Smokers upset about Boston's decision to ban smoking in all restaurants, bars and nightclubs, will only have to take a quick trip across the river if they want someplace to light up.
That's because just three months after public health officials here were talking about making Cambridge a smoke-free city as if it were a done deal, the City Council appears to be unwilling to support the effort.
Only four city councilors are poised to vote in favor of the proposed ordinance which would have been similar to the ban approved by the Boston Public Health Commission which goes into effect May 5, 2003,
Vice Mayor Henrietta Davis and Councilors Marjorie Decker, David Maher and Brian Murphy support the proposed ordinance that would prohibit smoking in all places of employment, including restaurants, bars and nightclubs. The ordinance, which exempts private clubs in which all employees are also members, is currently in the ordinance committee. The next committee meeting is schedule for Jan. 14.
But the rest of the councilors, including the mayor, have voiced concerns or opposition to the proposal. A majority of those concerns center around a reluctance to put Cambridge businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
"I'm not supportive of it," Mayor Michael Sullivan said. "There is a question of whether Boston will enforce it. Past experience indicates that ... it might not be as strictly enforced as one might imagine."
Suggesting that Cambridge would adhere to strict enforcement guidelines if a new ordinance were passed, Sullivan said any hints of a lackadaisical attitude across the river could cost Cambridge businesses.
One Boston official said she resented such an implication. "I think that this is a really, really strong regulation. There are very few exceptions, and we have every intent of enforcing it to the greatest extent possible," said Kristin O'Connor, communications director for the Boston Public Health Commission, the body that approved and will enforce the prohibition.
"There are not going to be people who allow smoking that we know of," she added.
Cambridge is one of 18 communities in the Boston metropolitan area affiliated with Clean Air Works, a coalition working to institute a regional ban on smoking in all workplaces. Cambridge's Chief Public Health Officer Harold Cox touts the regional approach as crucial to Cambridge's passage of the bill.
"I'm very excited about what Boston did. They have taken the lead in doing what we all believe needs to be done to protect the health of all workers in their city. I think that they have become a role model for other cities," Cox said.
In addition to Boston, councilors are concerned about other neighboring cities including Somerville and Watertown.
Somerville's Board of Health held a public meeting on the issue last week and will hold another in January. The city has not set a date for a vote, but Somerville Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay is supportive of the measure provided that all the city's neighbors implement a ban at the same time. Because Arlington and Medford are already smoke free, Kelly Gay is most concerned with Cambridge, her spokesman Bill Doncaster said.
Watertown is currently in the initial planning stages, according to Clean Air Works.
For City Councilor Timothy Toomey, the major sticking point is not only competition from outside the city, but also from within.
"I'm concerned with the unfair distinction between private clubs and restaurants," Toomey said. "If [the Public Health Department] is really concerned, it should be an all out offensive against smoking in the city."
Toomey fears that smaller bars, like Pugliese and Joey Mack's in East Cambridge that do not serve food, will lose business to private establishments like the French Club and VFW posts.
For restaurant owner John Alberts, the thought of a smoking ban puts fear in his eyes. "Basically the majority of those businesses [where smoking is currently allowed] are going to be out of business because smokers are still going to smoke and they are going to go where they can smoke," he said. Alberts owns the Courtside Karaoke Club on Cambridge Street.
A study prepared independently and free of charge by four Harvard Business School students found that in many municipalities around the country that have implemented similar smoking bans, restaurant and bar sales have increased, according to student Aaron Barlow's testimony during public comment at Monday's council meeting.
The document was referred to the ordinance committee for consideration at January's meeting.
The yes votes all expressed a desire to protect Cambridge businesses' competitive interests.
"While I certainly am concerned about small restaurant and bar owners who think they might be hurt by this, I think this is where we as a society are going," Decker said. "I think it's a matter of time before Cambridge passes it."
Councilors Anthony Galluccio and Denise Simmons both said they needed more information about the specifics of Boston's prohibition and its implications on Cambridge business before making a final decision.
"I'm a non-smoker and I support non-smoking environments. I'm also a business person, and I know the rigor of doing business, of making a living from your own business," Simmons said. "I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons."
Galluccio thinks city-specific ordinances are not the way to accomplish the goal.
"For me the question with regard to restaurants and bars has always been for me not to support anything that puts our bars and restaurants at a competitive disadvantage," he said. "My opinion continues to be that this is something that should be done at a statewide level."
State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, who represents Ward 9 of Cambridge, filed legislation at the State House to do just that.
Councilor Ken Reeves was out of the country when Boston passed the prohibition and said he had not done enough research to comment on the issue.
Supporters of the proposed ordinance suggested that Galluccio, Simmons and Reeves are all likely no votes.
If surrounding communities like Somerville and Watertown do go smoke free and Cambridge holds out, Murphy is concerned about the implications.
"I would hate for Cambridge to become some sort of a smoker's haven for people to come over from across the river," he said.
As the head of the Public Health Department, Cox has the authority to unilaterally implement a smoking ban. But the legality of such a regulation would be in question, as it would be in conflict with the smoking ordinance currently on the books. Cox said he would rather see the council vote for the ordinance.
"I believe the council will take the right action to protect all of the people in the community," he said.
That's a good reason to pass a law.
What a bunch of crap, the community needs to be protected from the smokers, like their the criminals.
Its statements like this played everyday over the media that brings on fear to the public. Pretty soom we'll have a bounty on the heads of smokers....Geeeech
Don't suppose you'd have contact addies, would you, metesky?
Not really, Max. Most of my Cantab friends from the old days have, like I, moved on.
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