Smoking ban and your city

Chase Unperson · #1 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 4:20 AM**

Do you think your city will ban all public smoking such as in bars and restaurants. Cali and NYC alread have. I was in SF when it happened and thought it was Ab Fab.

But now I live in Chicago and although I think it will happen here in the long run, I think this will be one of the last big cities to "fall" to the ban much to my dismay. Chicago is an all-night party town where the dance clubs and many bars are open until 4am 365 days a year and smoking and drinking are 100% incorporated into the culture. It sucks but that is just the way it is. You don't know how many times I have gone home at 5am smelling like a big ash tray, blech!

tunnelbana · #2 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 4:44 AM**

I know there are a lot of passionate opinions on this page, so hopefuly this won't get ugly.

Boulder has been smoke free for a while now and it is great. I don't know anyone (even smokers) who think it is a bad idea or that it has harmed the cities economy. This is one trend I don't mind seeing sweep the nation.

Steely Dan · #3 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 4:49 AM**

i'm a social smoker, and i secretly wish they would ban bar and restaurant smoking here in chicago because it would make it so very much easier for me to quit. i am good about not smoking most of the time, but as soon as i walk into a bar and take that first sip of old style, i get obsessive about needing to smoke a cigarette, so i almost always break down and buy a pack. and once i have one cigarette, i'll end up chaining for the rest of the evening. if it was outlawed and simply not an option, that would really help me out a lot.

volguus zildrohar · #4 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 4:59 AM**

People in Philly are starting that up that noise. I believe a bill is going to be pushed through City Council soon.

Chi-town · #5 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 5:11 AM**

I don't smoke when I'm not drinking... but when I'm drunk, you'll have to pry the cigarette from my cold, dead hands.

Urbanguy · #6 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 5:50 AM**

There's a smoking ban in restaurants here unless its an open area but smoking in nightclubs and bars is still okay and legal, which is cool for people that like to smoke when they drink.....i guess

softee · #7 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 6:03 AM**

Smoking is banned in all public places in the city of North Bay. Including bars and restaurants.

Shawn · #8 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 7:46 AM**

Same with Boston and Cambridge - and it's looking like the whole state soon as well.

Rail Claimore · #9 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 7:53 AM**

I've practically quit smoking regularly now. But I'll be damned if anyone tries to take a cigarette out of my hand or my mouth when I'm drinking out in town.

Blitz · #10 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 4:03 PM**

The whole province of Ontario will be introducing a full smoking ban within a few years, probably similar to California's.

grasscat · #11 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 5:22 PM**

Private property rights went out the window with the passage of the Reversal of Freedoms Act of 1994.

frank_pentangeli · #12 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 5:31 PM**

volgus - I think a state-wide ban is being thought about as well. If it passes, it'll exempt 5 things. I know bowling centers is one, I forget the other 4.

FLAplaya · #13 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 5:39 PM**

There is a statewide Ban for all smokers in Restaraunts and other establishments in Florida and it is the best thing to happen IMHO.

grasscat · #14 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 6:22 PM**

#15 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 6:38 PM**

Smoking's been banned in Chapel Hill for a while now. I'm all for it.
I will not grant smokers the "right" to poison my lungs, just cause I want to go out. The local metro area got out of the tobacco biz years ago, though it's an important part of our history.

In the US, smoking's going the way of the dodo. We'll just export the crap to the rest of the world.

grasscat · #16 Posted **Jan 27, 2004, 7:16 PM**

^

Shouldn't someone who operates a bar or a restaurant have the right to make that choice themselves? Then, if they make the choice to allow smoking, suffer any business consequences that that entails?

A business is a private enterprise, and the space it operates within is private property. No one has a "right" to patronize or to work anywhere. I sympathize with non-smokers, but codifying a mandate that wipes out choice and kills peoples' rights to their own property kind of pisses me off. Then again, what else to expect from a nanny society?

"We'll just export the crap to the rest of the world?" Sure.

Government should stick to its job.

Dampyre · #17 Posted **Jan 28, 2004, 12:08 AM**

I hope they enforce the ban in Chicago. I hate being around smokers. If you want to smoke then do it on your own time.

Chase Unperson · #18 Posted **Jan 28, 2004, 12:12 AM**

Quote:

I hope they enforce the ban in Chicago. I hate being around smokers. If you want to smoke then do it on your own time.

I could not agree more, but like I said, this will be the last big city to fall due to its late night culture.

Chase Unperson · #19 Posted **Jan 28, 2004, 12:13 AM**

^Actually Vegas might be the last.

SuperstarMark · #20 Posted **Jan 28, 2004, 12:22 AM**

I don't see what the problem is with having sections. If you're a waiter, and smoking bothers you, ask to wait in the non-smoking section.

I can appreciate not having that bar stink on my clothes. One of my favorite bars in Pgh. is smoke-free - I have to go outside on a deck to smoke. But I don't mind doing that - it's a sheltered section that the bar provides, with ashtrays.

I disagree with these smoke-free city/state bans.

This is all I am saying on this topic.