Posted on 06/23/2002 9:26:10 PM PDT by chance33_98
Smoking Ban Hurting Tempe Restaurants
Tempe, June 19 (AP) -- It may be a breath of fresh air to walk into restaurants here and not smell smoke, but restaurant and bar owners say they're smothering.
They are asking the City Council to do something to ease the financial pain arising from the new, restrictive anti-smoking ordinance.
A number of owners say revenue is down by as much as 20 percent since the voter-approved ordinance took effect May 30. They plan to outline their concerns during a council meeting Thursday.
"You can either kill yourself with gloom and doom, or you can take the tack that clean air is far better than dirty air," said Lee Fairbanks, who spearheaded the campaign to restrict smoking. "It's healthy, it's better than sitting in a cloud of cancerous smoke."
Since Tempe voters approved the most stringent smoking ban in the area, police have responded to 38 complaints of smokers in bars and restaurants but issued no citations.
That, of course, would depend upon the terms of the lease.
It sounds like, unlike some, actually most of your phony smoker friends, I'm sure you'd have no problems patronizing the businesses of innocent owners if a ban was in effect where you live....right?
Silly of you to assume that you've any knowledge of who my friends might be, how real they are, or what opinions they hold. I suspect that you were attempting an insult, but could come up with nothing witty or creative. In such cases it's best to just pretend that you're polite.
As to what businesses I patronize, I'm quite willing to drive a bit farther to enjoy my dinner in a smoking establishment.
This kind of mentality makes me sick. And how will the anti-smokers make up for the loss of business from the smokers? Clones of themselves? I think not.
And it won't be long before Free Republic sees lewislynn for what he/she is.
Your not wanted on these threads, lewislynn. Give it up.
We support the business owners RIGHTS, not necessarily ALL business owners.
We support the business OWNERS that we CHOOSE to support, just as you do.
If the government pokes it's nose in and bans smoking in ALL venues that serve food then we choose to NOT support ALL business owners equally.
If a business OWNER decides on their own to go smoke free, we have no problem with this. We may not support THAT business owner, simply because we don't enjoy the experience when going into their business but we do NOT say that the business owner MUST allow smokers in their business.
It is the government interference that we disagree with, not the fact that a business goes smoke free of their own accord.
On the day before Thanksgiving a full statewide smoking ban will take effect in Delaware. The only exceptions to the ban will be Fire Halls and fraternal organizations (Moose, Elk, VFW, etc)
It hasn't take effect yet, but one restaurant I am familiar with has already had more than 7 cancellations of Christmas parties. They have all moved to the local Moose lodge.
The only weasels involved in this are the nannyists like you.
More than likely the smokers are enjoying themselves with other like minded indiviuals in the comfort of their own homes.
Get a grip on reality, why don't you????
That's odd. Must have been an off night. In every single Cracker Barrel around here, you can most ALWAYS get seated in non-smoking immediately while a request for the smoking section will garner you a 20 minute wait (and smoking has more tables!). Go figure.
Last I heard, our Constitution was put in place to allow the government to protect the individual from the tyranny of the majority and these "smoking bans" are nothing, if not tyranny. Telling folks what they may or may not allow on privately owned property that they pay taxes on, whether it be set-back lines or smoking policies, goes against the very fabric of our Republic.
To the restaurant and bar owners of Bemidji You had better listen to the pro-choice people here. My husband and I are both non-smokers. We used to own 2 restaurants and a half -share in a bar-nightclub here. in Victoria B.C. ,Canada In 1999 the Capital Regional District(CRD)here enacted a 100% smoking bylaw here. We did not protest,after all we were and would not be adversely affected by the smoking bylaw,so we thought.We never violated the bylaw.Our restaurant-bar and grill was already 70% non-smoking 25% smoking before the bylaw,anyway.We did not believe it would matter to us.We were so,wrong.
We believed that with a level playing-field as the CRD promised us,our businesses might even see higher profits. We were fools to buy into this anti-smoking rubbish. We lost our bar-club within eight months of the bylaw's introduction.Our partner filed for bankruptcy. Forty-two of our workers became unemployed.
In the previous five years The business was generating gross sales of over $2 million per annum. Our business was down over 50% in 1999 peaking at 65% in the winter months.We closed early most weeknights and on several occasions on weekends. It was a bitter blow to our family and all the people involved with our business.
Fortunately we had other investments that did do well for us. Our other investments: We own and operated two restaurants one a bar and grill(200 seats),where my husband is the manager and I co-manage,along with my brother a pizzeria(delivery and take out only) in a small strip-mall. The bar and grill in the last two and a half years is barely turning a decent profit. We do have a fair sized patio and in the spring-summer months we have been making out alright. The winter is a different story. Business is down over 35-45%. Our staff is reduced by 12 and my husband puts in over 90+ hours per week. We normally employ 28 people.Before the bylaw. This used to be our full-time staffing year-round.We can no longer afford to hire the help except during the spring-summer season. We also had to stop hiring live music,we used to have bands every night of the week.It was too costly. We never thought the bylaw would have such a drastic impact but it has on most businesses in our industry.
We were told that smokers would,in time accept the bylaw and things would actually be better for most businesses. This has not happened in most places here. I have talked to many other business people in our industry and I know many of them personally. They have no reason to lie about this. We were sold a bill of 'bad goods.' The almost the entire industry in Victoria is paying for it.
I know of 40+ businesses that have closed directly on account of the smoking bylaw,here. There will be many more to come. Our take-out pizza parlour: is thriving on the other hand. Sales have steadily increased and we are now doing over 30% better in gross sales than we were before the smoking bylaw.
Still this is a far cry from off-setting the loss of our bar and the profits from our restaurant-bar and grill. We are luckier than most.Our family has helped us financially in our times of money woes and the loss of our business(bar-club).
We would sell the restaurant(bar and grill)tomorrow, but the market value has dropped so low,we must keep working until we can at least break even on what we paid initially for the business. No one in their right mind wants to be in the restaurant business in this city,unless they are a chain-restaurant,high class dining,take-out-delivery or a donut shop.
The bar-nightclub-pub business here is down at least 15%-50%.And it's not improving. People: smokers and non-smokers are staying home.Or going outside the city to locales where smoking is allowed Non-smokers are not replacing smokers in bars,clubs or restaurants. The anti-smoking operatives are lying to all of you.Do not be fooled. Bringing a smoking ban or bylaw to your community will bring nothing but hurt and economic suffering to most businesses in the hospitality field.
My husband and I have over 60 years between us in this industry. The most insulting thing I ever heard was when we attended a council meeting to voice opposition to the bylaw,when we had a first-hand look at how two out of our three businesses were suffering. When we said our bar-club was going to 'go under' if the bylaw continued our council members commented that "maybe we should seek another line of work,obviously we had no idea how to run a business." My husband had to be restrained. Some idiot in a business-suit who has never to my knowledge ever patronized any of my businesses with any regularity,who has no experience running such a hospitality establishment is telling us with over 60 years experience,that we have no idea how to run our places. We had turned constant profits since becoming business owner for over the last 25 years. These people who claim second-hand smoke is a health issue are not kidding. The health of your financial well-being is in jeopardy if smoking is banned in your city. You will lose tourist dollars and valued customers.
A word of well-earned advice. People who did not patronize restaurants and bars in your community when smoking was allowed will seldom,if ever come out even if those businesses become smoke-free. Non-smokers and the anti-smokers pushing for government imposed smoke-free drinking and dining will not even put a dent in the amount of customer base that you will lose. That's not all you will lose. Monetarily speaking, we have lost in excess of $530,000.00 Canadian dollars from the loss of our bar-nightclub.Over $220,000.00 in revenue from our bar and grill-restaurant. We have gained about $120,000.00 from our pizza parlour. Do the math:smoking bylaw=-$750,000.00+$120,000.00=-$630,000.00 And our early retirement. We are not taking into account the loss we would take if we tried to sell our bar and grill-restaurant at market value.
Do not believe the 'anti-smoking snake-oil pitchmen.' They are lying to you. They are playing games with your livelihood.
It is too late for us here in Victoria. Hopefully you can learn from our mistake. Had we of known of the impact a smoking ban as,we would have fought. Now we must pay the price for our complacency. The smell of fascisim is much o unpleasant than the smell of any amout of seconhand smoke. To the 'concerned' ciizens who advocate a local smoking ban or bylaw:Butt out of other people's business.You are brainwashed fools. Go back to your smoke-free 'caves.'
Hey, Ky, give it a rest. People who want to have a smoke-free environment deserve a little fresh air, too. The market place is driving a lot of the smoke-free areas in public places.
Whaaat?
What rock did YOU crawl out from under!
Sorry Don, doesn't wash. If restaurant OWNERS want to make THEIR establishments non-smoking, fine. If they do not, however, smoking bans, even at the behest of a "majority", are clearly a violation of individual rights. PERIOD.
Certainly. You have the "right" to frequent any non-smoking establishment that you wish just as any smoker SHOULD have the right to patronize any smoking allowed place that they wish with NO interference from ANY government entity. Get it?
Very well said!
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