Illinois smoking ban divides 'sister cities'
Champaign, Urbana debate similar to here

By ERIC WEDDLE, eweddle@journalandcourier.com
June 17, 2007

The night Champaign, Ill., city council members voted to repeal a ban on smoking in bars and other places, tavern owner Tom Sellers stood in his crowded bar watching the proceedings on television.

"The house went up for grabs," he said. "I think everyone in here bought a round for the bar."

Champaign and Urbana -- sister cities bearing some similarities to Lafayette and West Lafayette -- passed smoking bans in 2006. But Champaign repealed its ordinance last month after political pressure was brought to bear.

On July 1, a West Lafayette ordinance takes effect that will ban smoking in most bars, restaurants and places of employment. Lafayette, with no such ban in place, will remain a smoker's haven.

While Greater Lafayette residents ponder whether restricting smokers in one city will drive business to the other, Champaign and Urbana residents are finding out now, although the evidence is far from conclusive.

Bunny's Tavern in Urbana had a 22 percent sales decline in February, a month after the smoking ban took effect in bars, co-owner Bob Venable said. He said he still hasn't recovered from that loss.

"We lost our 5 p.m. construction crews," he said. "I know where they go now -- Champaign."

Smoldering conflict

Champaign and its sister city, Urbana, passed ordinances in 2006 to restrict smoking in bars, restaurants, hookah cafés and public buildings. The passage of the two ordinances and subsequent repeal of one of them were wrought with raw emotions.

"People were almost coming to blows," said Steve Campbell, owner of the Rose Bowl bar in Urbana.

It began in 2003 when the C-U Smokefree Alliance, a grassroots anti-smoking group, began lobbying and raising public awareness.

"I'd say we had 70 percent support in the communities," said Daniel Lewart, C-U Smokefree Alliance vice president. The alliance approached Urbana first.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Lunt Prussing recalls her response: "We sort of developed a consensus on the city council. I told (the alliance) if Champaign would pass the same ordinance, we'd vote on it."

Convincing Champaign's leaders proved more difficult. Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart, a smoker with lung cancer, vehemently opposed the idea.

"To me it is a matter of choice. If you don't want to go to a smoking bar, don't go," he said.

"People told me, 'I've put blood and sweat and tears into this place. I've got a right to say I am a totally smoking restaurant and I cannot do this as non-smoking.'"

Despite early defeats, the alliance kept pushing. Finally, in spring 2006 the Champaign city council voted 5-4 to ban smoking inside bars, restaurants and public buildings.

Urbana soon followed, and restaurants in that city went smoke-free first, on Aug. 1. Bars were given until this past Jan. 1. Champaign's smoking ban kicked in on Jan. 31.

Feeling the impact

Tom Sellers said that after the smoking ban took effect, February sales in his establishment, Memphis on Main, dropped 25 to 30 percent. He said he had to let three part-time bartenders go as a result.

"It was no doubt in my mind that the ban would affect us. This bar is 85 percent smokers and 15 percent tolerant."

Other Champaign bars reported similar drop-offs, owners said.

After the Champaign council approved its smoking ban, Sellers and others who took issue with the ban threw support behind two pro-business candidates for the February primary election. Both won, and the mayor called for an immediate vote to repeal the ban on May 15. It passed 5-4 without council discussion.

Since the repeal of the ordinance, sales are back up, Sellers said. Two bartenders have been rehired, he said.

Urbana business customers may also be migrating to nearby towns and villages, such as Savoy, population 5,650 and growing.

Savoy Village President Robert McCleary said bar and restaurant owners have seen increased sales since the bans were passed, but he declined to attribute that directly to smokers looking for a place to light up.

"New businesses opened here at the same time their bans went into effect," he said.

Conflicting evidence

While anecdotal evidence abounds, objective evidence is harder to come by.

Laura Weis, president of the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, said outside factors such as a mid-February blizzard may have affected February sales in Champaign.

Also, year-to-year food and beverage tax receipts in Champaign were up 17 percent in April, while the ban was still in effect. The alliance's Lewart and Thomas Bruno see that as proof the ban actually may have helped sales.

"It was dramatically economically successful in Champaign to have the ordinance in place," said Bruno, a Champaign council member who opposed the repeal.

But Urbana bar owner Campbell disputes that assessment. He said that 50 percent of his regular day crowd has disappeared since Champaign rescinded its smoking ban.

Even so, Carlos Nieto, owner of seven Champaign bars and restaurants, decided to keep his businesses smoke-free. He said his sales are up from last year despite, or perhaps because of, going smoke free.

Despite Champaign's vote to repeal its smoking ordinance, Urbana has no plans to follow suit, Prussing said. That's also in part because the Illinois legislature in May voted to enact smoking restrictions statewide starting Jan. 1, 2008.

The Illinois governor has yet to sign the bill into law. If he does, smoking will not be permitted in any bars, restaurants, places of employment, and even casinos.

Some experts believe that if the law takes effect as written, Illinois casinos will lose significant amounts of business as smokers migrate to casinos in Indiana and Missouri.

Not satisfied with his local victory, Sellers said he's in daily contact with the governor's office in hopes of amending the statewide ban.

"There is room for compromise," he said. "Memphis on Main is an extension of some people's families. I know the first name of everyone who comes in here. We treat them like friends. The city can't take that away and neither can the state."
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Urbana reviews ban status
Sister city's smoking ban could face new criticism, repeal

4/24/07
By: Pamela Nisivaco

A concerned Urbana resident addressed the Urbana City Council Monday about the implications of the recent Champaign City Council elections. George Carlisle Jr., member of CU-Smoke Free, said he is concerned that the recently elected Champaign City council members Deborah Frank Feinen and Karen Foster are moving towards a repeal of the smoking ban in Champaign.

Carlisle said the possibility of Champaign repealing the smoking ban is a serious concern for the CU-Smoke Free Group. If the ban is repealed, the group is proposing a boycott of Champaign bars and restaurants, he said. For health reasons it is in the interest of the public that secondhand smoke be eliminated.

"We can't afford to let Urbana or Champaign become smoking cities again," Carlisle said.

Robert Myers, planning manager for the city of Urbana, said if Champaign repeals their smoking ban it puts Urbana in an awkward position.

"If we don't repeal the ban, we would have different standards than our sister city," Myers said.
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August 19, 2006
Mike Monson

URBANA – It's been nearly three weeks since Urbana's smoking ban for restaurants and workplaces went into effect. And Victor Hernandez, manager and co-owner of Margarita's restaurant, says it's already hurting his business.

Hernandez estimated that receipts for his restaurant at 1717 Philo Road at Sunnycrest Mall are down 10 percent since the ban went into effect on Aug. 1.

"It's hard," he said. "Ten percent is a lot.

"We have customers who used to come here to get a to-go order. They'd order, go to the bar and have maybe two or three beers and smoke. Now they call ahead and they want the order to be ready.

"Since it happened, we haven't had one person sit at the bar, and we used to have people sit at the bar all day long and smoke," Hernandez said.

Four other restaurant and coffee shop owners and managers said they haven't noticed any change in business, other than having more customers going outside to smoke.

Officials have received only one complaint about illegal smoking, and it was determined that it wasn't valid.

But Hernandez said the ban is hurting his restaurant, which opened 12 years ago. He said a couple who were longtime customers came into his business on July 31, the night before the ban went into effect, and stayed for five hours at a sort of farewell dinner.

"They said they aren't coming back because they can't smoke," he said. "They haven't been back again. They were very sad about it."

He estimated that 20 percent to 30 percent of his customers were smokers.

Hernandez expressed frustration that, after the two cities had reached an informal agreement to have the ban take effect Aug. 1 at both bars and restaurants, the Urbana City Council voted in June to have the ban apply to restaurants and workplaces on Aug. 1, but gave Urbana bars until Jan. 1.

Champaign's smoking ban ordinance, passed in May, called for its ban to take effect 30 days after Urbana's if the Aug. 1 date didn't apply. Therefore, Champaign's smoking ban will take effect for both bars and restaurants on Jan. 31.

Others say the ban isn't hurting them.

Isen Balazi, owner of the Urbana Garden Family Restaurant, 810 Killarney St., said he probably has lost a few customers who are smokers, but "we gained some nonsmokers, too."

Balazi said his biggest frustration is the differing implementation dates.

Jeff Edwards, general manager of the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center, 1001 Killarney St., said he hasn't noticed any detrimental effects from the smoking ban at the hotel, the Season's Restaurant inside the hotel or the Atrium Lounge, a small hotel bar.

Edwards said he previously had 10 hotel smoking rooms that had to be converted to nonsmoking because of the ordinance.

"The only impact was we had to call guests who had reserved smoking rooms and let them know there was a ban in effect Aug. 1," Edwards said. "I don't think we had anyone cancel. They just said 'We'll go outside and smoke.'

"I thought we'd have some issues on Saturday nights when we have wedding receptions, but surprisingly, we haven't had anybody light up," he added. "There's a lot more people outside (smoking), especially on a Saturday night."

Melissa Fanella, owner of Caffe Paradiso, 801 S. Lincoln Ave., said her coffee shop had previously reserved two booths and two tables for smokers. She said it's hard to say how her business will be affected because August is a slow month until University of Illinois students return.

"I really do think people will adapt," she said. "It's not like people are going to stop going out. Overall, I don't think it will hurt businesses."

Two customers at Caffe Paradiso, both UI graduate students, said they're pleased about the ban.

"It rocks," said Charles Spicer of Champaign. "I just like being able to go home at night and not having to take a shower."

Amy Whelpley of Champaign said she understands the desire by some to protect individual rights.

"But smoking affects everybody," she said. "It's nice to be able to go somewhere and not have to breathe in the smoke."

No valid smoking complaints yet

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, which is assisting Urbana in enforcing its restaurant smoking ban, has received only one complaint since the ban went into effect Aug. 1, according to district spokeswoman Diana Yates.

That complaint involved people smoking outside a grocery store, she said, and did not constitute a violation of the ordinance.

Health district sanitarians, who check for smoking ordinance compliance while doing restaurant inspections, did notice that four restaurants either didn't have "no smoking" signs at the entrance or didn't have ashtrays at the outside entrance, as the ordinance calls for, Yates said.

Those restaurants were advised about what they had to do to comply with the ordinance, she said.
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Enforcement plan in place for smoking ban

July 20, 2006
Mike Monson

URBANA – With only 11 days to go before Urbana restaurants must become smoke-free, the city and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District have reached a tentative agreement on how they'll jointly enforce the smoking ban.

The biggest emphasis will be on education, with several city officials planning to fan out across the city next week to visit 53 Urbana restaurants to explain the smoking ban in detail to restaurant owners and managers.

A copy of the city's smoke-free ordinance, brochures explaining the law and signs advising that a table or business is smoke-free also will be provided.

"We don't expect a lot of complaints," said Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing. "Madison, Wis., which is much bigger than us, only had 50 complaints in its first year. Our emphasis will be on education."

Prussing will be visiting a handful of the restaurants herself. After the restaurant visits are completed, city officials will then visit city workplaces, she said.

Under Urbana's ordinance, restaurants and workplaces must go smoke-free by Aug. 1. Bars must comply by Jan. 1.

In Champaign, restaurants and bars both must be smoke-free by Jan. 31. Workplaces are not covered under Champaign's ordinance.

The public health district and Urbana have a tentative enforcement plan worked out, following a meeting Wednesday at the Urbana City Building.

Under the plan, people who witness illegal smoking can file a complaint with the public health district by telephone or complain in person at the Urbana Police Department.

If a serious complaint is filed, where people are seen smoking or ashtrays are out, the public health district will send an employee within three business days to investigate the complaint. The visit will be educational, with the employee giving the restaurant manager information about the city's smoke-free ordinance and their role in enforcing it, said Diana Yates, the public health district's director of health promotion.

If more complaints about a particular establishment are filed, those will be passed along to the city, Yates said. If multiple complaints are filed, the health department will visit the site again and report its findings to the city.

The public health department won't write tickets for violations, but will be able to serve as a credible witness – "enough for the city to issue a citation," Yates said.

The public health district will provide most of its services for free, but will charge the city when an investigation requires an employee to work overtime.

"It's going to be rare," said Yates about charging overtime. "Only if there are multiple complaints about a site will we send someone in the evening hours to check on if they're in compliance or violating the law."

City employees who frequent businesses during the course of their job, including Community Development employees, police and firefighters, also will be able to investigate smoking complaints.

Urbana plans are to rarely, if ever, cite individual smokers, said Urbana Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Walden.

Instead, business owners are the ones most likely to get a ticket, with fines ranging between $135 and $750, if they repeatedly let smoking go on in their establishment, he said.

"When someone lights up a cigarette, there will not be sirens sounding and police arresting people or issuing tickets," Prussing said.
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Jun. 06, 2006

URBANA, Ill. - Urbana has joined neighboring Champaign and a growing list of Illinois cities that prohibit smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars.

The City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to approve the no-smoking ordinance. It will be effective Aug. 1 in restaurants and restaurant lounges, but bars will not have to comply until early next year.

"These things take time," said attorney Tom Koester, who represents owners of 10 Urbana bars. He persuaded the council to extend the deadline for posting no-smoking signs until Jan. 1, 2007.

Some of the bar owners are looking at adding separate doors for smokers who wish to step outside, canopies to cover outdoor smoking areas and outdoor seating where the new rules will allow smoking, Koester said.

Champaign's city council approved a smoking ban last month, timed to go into effect Aug. 1 so long as Urbana also passed a no-smoking ordinance. But Urbana officials said the Champaign ordinance includes a provision putting it into effect 30 days later than Urbana if Urbana chose a different effective date.

The effect of Urbana's Jan. 1 deadline for bars on Champaign's ordinance was not immediately clear Tuesday and Champaign's attorney was reviewing the issue, city manager Steve Carter said.

"I don't think splitting the date like Urbana did was probably envisioned when it was enacted," he said.

Urbana's intent is to begin enforcing the smoking ban in bars on Feb. 1, after a monthlong education period, said Alderman Charlie Smith.

Alderwoman Heather Stevenson was the only dissenting vote.

"I don't think we should be a Third World dictator city that tells these people they have to go smoke-free," she said.

Other Illinois cities that have enacted no-smoking ordinances include Chicago, Bloomington, Normal and Springfield. Cook County also has enacted a ban that will affect more than 100 Chicago suburbs, and similar ordinances are being considered in more than three dozen other communities.
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Bar owners urge ban exemption
June 5, 2006
By Mike Monson
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May 23, 2006
By Mike Monson

URBANA – Despite warnings that Champaign-Urbana bars will suffer economically, the Urbana City Council has followed the lead of its sister city in supporting a comprehensive smoking ban.

Council members, meeting as the committee of the whole, voted 6-1 in a voice vote Monday night to forward an ordinance prohibiting smoking in most public places, including bars and restaurants, to the June 5 city council meeting for a final vote.

Only Alderwoman Heather Stevenson, R-Ward 6, voted against the proposal. Stevenson has said she believes the ban would infringe on the rights of business owners.

The Champaign City Council last week passed a comprehensive smoking ban in a 5-4 vote, effective Aug. 1. But implementation of the ban depends on the Urbana council enacting a similar ordinance. Urbana's ban also would take effect Aug. 1.

Council members made it clear weeks ago they would support a comprehensive ban if Champaign approved one. They spent relatively little time debating the merits of the proposal.

Alderwoman Lynne Barnes, D-Ward 7, called the issue "certainly a battle of rights."

"It's the rights of smokers and also the rights of people with illness and how smoking affects them," Barnes said.

"When you look at these two rights, the rights of public health" should prevail, she said.

Danielle Chynoweth, D-Ward 2, said she also sees the smoking ban as a public health issue, for both the public in general and for bar and restaurant employees in particular. She complimented the CU Smoke-Free Alliance for its grass-roots campaign to convince the two city councils to approve a smoking ban.

"This is the direction the state of Illinois and the country are going to," Chynoweth said. "I'm proud to see Champaign have leadership and take initiative on this issue. I think it was difficult for them, and we should follow in their wake."

Scott Hays, president of the smoke-free alliance, said he was "very excited" by the strong show of council support.

"The 6-1 vote is very promising," he said. "We look forward to smoke-free cities."

Urbana's ordinance is similar, but not identical, to Champaign's. Urbana will require outdoor service areas of bars and restaurants to make outdoor seating at least 50 percent smoke-free, while Champaign makes no such requirement. Urbana also will prohibit smoking within 6 feet of a main entrance to an establishment.

Urbana's ordinance doesn't include a set fine, instead saying violations will be subject to the general penalty provisions of the city code. City Attorney Jim Gitz said fines could range from $135 to $750.

Gitz also said the cities are hoping to work out an arrangement with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District to enforce the ordinances.

"I think they are the most logical agency to do joint enforcement" of the smoking bans, Gitz said. "It makes a whole lot of sense to me and I think to Champaign as well. But we need an agreement with them."

The draft ordinance states that Urbana's Community Development Department and Fire Department can inspect for compliance with the smoking ban while doing normal inspections of businesses.

James "Irish" McBride of Champaign said he feels "very pushed with this ordinance."

"That's why we have doors," he said. "If you don't want to come in, don't come in. I feel like this is quite an infringement on smokers' rights."

Ed Salfelder, owner of the Silver Bullet Bar, 1401 E. Washington St., U, warned that smokers will take their business out of Champaign-Urbana.

"I think everyone should have a right to choose what they want to do and where they want to do it," he said.

Steve Nagele of Champaign said smokers will use civil disobedience and continue to smoke in public places.

"We will go in and we will smoke and we will force Urbana to enforce this law," he said.

But other audience members said the cities need to go smoke-free. Rebecca Ballard of Urbana said she has lived in the smoke-free cities of Boulder, Colo., and San Francisco.

"I can tell you it is a dream living in a community like that," she said.

Ballard said she was living in San Francisco when the smoking ban went into effect and "the bars were no less crowded than they were before."

"I believe your right to smoke ends at my nose," said Rochelle Weber of Rantoul. "You have the right to kill yourself any way you want to, but you don't have the right to take me with."
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By Mike Monson
Friday, March 10, 2006

URBANA – Dozens of people strongly urged Urbana aldermen on Thursday to ban smoking in public places.

A two-hour public forum Thursday on whether the city council should enact smoke-free legislation drew about 80 people, the vast majority of whom backed a ban.

But three Urbana bar owners said banning smoking in bars would likely hurt their businesses, particularly if a ban went into effect in Urbana but not in Champaign.

The forum was at the Pollard Auditorium in the Carle Forum, on Carle's Urbana campus.

Urbana council members said beforehand that they wanted public input before they consider whether to enact some sort of smoking ban.

"We'll want to let a couple of weeks pass while we absorb the information we've received," said Alderman Dennis Roberts, D-Ward 5.

The audience was polite to speakers from both sides, but it was clear that those who want to ban smoking in public places had strong support.

During public comment, Gary Cziko of Urbana said he has personally adopted a policy of not patronizing businesses that allow smoking.

"I go to New York City (which has a smoking ban) and the whole city is open to me," he said. "It's a wonderful feeling."

Cziko drew some laughs when he turned and addressed the seven city council members and Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing.

"Many cities have passed smoking bans and nobody I know has gone the other way," he said. "I just wonder why, it's 2006 now, why has nothing been done? I ask the city council, why are you guys holding back?"

Carol Lichtensteiger of Urbana, an assistant professor of pathology at the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, said she was most concerned about bar and restaurant workers who are exposed daily to secondhand smoke.

"For the worker, it's an overwhelming health issue and it's unfair the worker doesn't have a safe working environment," she said.

Dr. Robert Scully, chief medical officer with Health Alliance Medical Plans, said that when the city of Pueblo, Colo., banned smoking in bars, heart attack rates dropped 30 percent.

Secondhand smoke is a hazard that causes lung cancer and heart disease, and "the city of Urbana has an obligation, as does Champaign, to do something about it," Scully said, who gave a brief presentation at the start of the meeting. Champaign council members have discussed and rejected a ban, though some want to revisit the discussion.

A letter from R. Bruce Wellman, president and chief executive officer of Carle Clinic Association, urged council members "to take an active role in supporting a smoke-free ordinance both in the cities of Urbana and Champaign."

But some Urbana bar owners said they oppose a smoking ban.

"Customers have a chance to pick what businesses they want to go to," said Ed Salfelder, owner of the Silver Bullet Bar. "Why should they (smokers) be shunned out?"

Steve Campbell, owner of the Rose Bowl Tavern, said Champaign and Urbana have a level playing field now, with smoking allowed in bars in both cities.

"If you tilt that playing field, you're going to see lost business and lost businesses here in Urbana," he said.

Paul Wirth, owner of the Iron Post bar, said his business probably attracted 500 people to downtown Urbana between last Thursday and Sunday.

"Of that, most of them smoke," he said. "Most of my customers smoke. ... I think it (a ban) would do nothing but contribute to the stigma that Urbana is anti-business."

But the very next speaker, Urbana resident Bill Mermelstein, said he would patronize the Iron Post more often to listen to live music, "but we just can't stand the smoke."