Posted on 09/20/2005 2:38:10 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Smoking Ban Meeting Planned For Tuesday
POSTED: 7:04 pm CDT September 19, 2005 UPDATED: 1:35 pm CDT September 20, 2005
MADISON, Wis. -- The Madison Common Council is preparing to clear the air on the city's smoking ban Tuesday night.
Many of those who have rallied to repeal the smoking ban are expected to attend Tuesday night's common council meeting.
Three smoking-related things are on the agenda including an outright appeal of the ban, an amendment to allow businesses to apply for a hardship exemption and a proposal for a citywide referendum.
"It doesn't look like there's enough votes to repeal the ban," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. "And at this point, it doesn't look like there are enough votes for the other options as well. At this point, it looks like the smoking ban will remain in place."
Spokesmen for the group that supports repealing the smoking ban said they have eight of the 11 votes needed for repeal.
anto-anti=anti-anti
(it's 5:30 am)
Repeal 328 52%
I voted. Thanks for the ping.
It is now in favor of repealing the smoking ban this morning.
"I find it interesting how smoking has somehow become a conservative thing......"
Smoking is not the issue. Property rights is the issue.
Voted. 53% for "be repealed".
Do you support the Kelo decision?
Well, we lost the repeal by ONE vote. The Progressive Dane pukes win again.
I can't wait to hear Vicki McKenna lose it on the radio today. Next step? Civil Disobedience by bar owners and patrons and moving as many businesses OUT of Madison as possible.
Madison keeps smoking ban
By Lee Sensenbrenner
September 21, 2005
The Madison City Council decided early today to keep the ban on smoking in taverns intact and not go to a referendum on the issue.
The attempt to repeal the ban failed by a narrow margin - 9 for repeal to 10 against it. The Council rejected the plan to take the issue to the voters in a spring referendum, with only 5 votes for a referendum and 14 against.
A proposal to allow bars temporary hardship exemptions if they can prove that the ban has significantly hurt their business also was not approved, or acted upon, during the overnight meeting.
Speaker after speaker took the podium, four minutes at a time, alternately telling those dozing around them in the Council chambers that it was about paying bills, or it was about health, or it was about being an American and making your own choices.
For Madison decision makers, the issue appears finally to be over. For those fighting the ban, the next step they pledged was to push for less restrictive statewide smoking rules, although Gov. Jim Doyle has said he is resistant to the idea.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories//index.php?ntid=54901&ntpid=2
ROFL.............you people slay me........Insisting on the use of government edict to tell others how to use their private property and you tell me I need to learn courtesy..............what a joke................
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Get some sleep, FRiend :)
Is there streaming audio for the station Vicki McKenna is on? I wuld love to hear her.
I really feel for the Madison business owners, and the folks in general - they will learn the hard way this is just one more step in the WRONG direction.
Thanks for keeping us posted.
I dont know what it is. I moved to this country only few months ago. Still learning a lot of things.
http://www.wiba.com/main.html
She's on at 2pm Central. She's terrific...and she'll be loaded for bear today. ;)
Another article on the ban at the same link above:
Smoking Ban Stands... For Now
Madison's smoking ban won't be repealed. On a 10-9 vote, aldermen this morning voted down a proposal to nix the ordinance that went into effect July first. The City council also rejected a call to put the measure to referendum. A third proposal...calling for a temporary exemption of the ban for bars hardest hit...was set aside for debate at a later date.
It's been an all night affair on the city council floor...as public health was pitted against economics in arguments both for and against Madison's smoking ban. Those in support cited national numbers on things like second hand smoke deaths.. while bar.. bowling alley and tavern owners turned to numbers on how much income they've lost since the ban went into effect....July 1.
Aldermen this morning are still debating proposals to put the ban to referendum, or offer bars hard hit financially...a temporary reprieve from the ordinance.
Madison's city council was up all night...thanks to the more than 100 people who spoke up both for and against the city's smoking ban..."Capitalism in free market does not mean no regulation at all. As a matter of fact...there are times when capitalism in free market don't work, and they are called market failures. And, these aren't liberal, or conservative, or anti business, or pro business.. this is just fact... this is economic fact."
A number of tavern owners also testified..."Now, I don't know anyone that has been ever been forced into my tavern to come and breathe second hand smoke. If you don't like smoke... don'to go to a tavern. I don't like strip clubs... I don't go... It's my choice." The council took comments until about 2:30 this morning...and then started debating the proposals to tweak the ban.
There were 101 registered speakers for and against the ban and another 250 who registered on paper. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz expected that kind of turnout. "I did... I suppose maybe we finished 2 or 3 hours later than I even thought we would, but it was to be expected. There's been a lot of passion... a lot of interest in this issue, and so I wasn't at all surprised at the number of people who showed up, or the passion of the debate." The mayor says the 5 a.m. adjournment is the longest council session he's experienced since being in office.
Thanks for the link - I will try and catch her this afternoon.
There is only one public health issue regarding smoking bans - and that is the MENTAL health of the public - I mean really, unless one is mentally ill, why would one go somewhere to be exposed to something they do not like?
Yeah, I did that once. Not enough bang for the buck. Now I put the butts in my empty beer cans and throw everything out the car window at once.
Nice ttempt to dig yourself out of the hole you put yourself in..........but it doesn't work.
My personal experience, smoking at job also causes a lot of time waste. For example, my lab assitant smoked and she used to take 10 min break for every 20 min work she (hardly) did and smoke a ton of cigarettes. It is not allowable in an office setting like mine (we develop high speed architectures for computing) where every chip made is very very expensive. A simple ESD problem can lead to $$$$$$ loss. So we fired her. (Ofcourse, she made rude comments as expected "you foreigners know nothing....you guys come here and dictate what we should do....while all we are trying to do is maintain productivity for the company). Now the one that works, she works 8 hrs with honesty....no need to search for my assistant anymore....she is always at her desk in the lab....and gets things done faster than ever I have seen here.
ROFL!!!!!!!
Thanks for the great laugh this morning........
"So we fired her. (Ofcourse, she made rude comments as expected "you foreigners know nothing....you guys come here and dictate what we should do....while all we are trying to do is maintain productivity for the company). Now the one that works, she works 8 hrs with honesty....no need to search for my assistant anymore....she is always at her desk in the lab....and gets things done faster than ever I have seen here."
So, it never occured to you that this lab asst. you fired was just a slacker in general, who happened to smoke?
Puh-leeze. My husband smokes. He gets more done in an average work day than most people get done in a week. I don't smoke, and I'm the same way. We both run our own small businesses. Maybe that "Ownership Society" ethic has something to do with it? Your lab asst. had no personal stake in the success or failure of your lab. Why would she care? A slacker is a slacker, smoker or not.
Why is it lost on you that this battle is for PERSONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS? Why does the government have the right to swoop in, make regulations on how you do business and basically put you OUT of business?
How well would that go over in your lab? Think of something that would cripple your ability to do you job, then imagine the government foisting that upon you and closing your lab.
It's the exact same thing. The smoke Nazis pretend this is all about the health of the workers, but it's not. You're being fooled if you believe that.
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