Lincolnwood Update
Second chance to sound off on smoke ban idea Sept. 21, 2006
KATHY ROUTLIFFE
Lincolnwood residents and business owners have another chance to tell village officials what they like or dislike about a possible municipal smoking ban next Tuesday, when the village board's committee on ordinances, rules and buildings meets for another round of consideration. The 7 p.m. meeting will take place at Village Hall council chambers. Administrators have notified local businesses, and alerted interested residents, and are hoping for a good turnout, village management analyst Michael Braiman said Tuesday. An August committee session on the issue drew only one person, who spoke out against the idea of banning smoking in places such as stores, offices and restaurants. Village trustees asked the committee to review staff research into existing Chicago area smoking bans shortly after the Cook County Board approved a ban which goes into effect next March. It will prohibit smoking in any enclosed public place, place of employment, or within 15 feet of any enclosed entrance. It excuses private clubs, 25 percent of hotel rooms, private homes and some nursing home spaces. Skokie, Evanston, Chicago and other area communities have passed their own local ordinances. Lincolnwood has broad home-rule powers, and could also choose to pass its own law, either weaker or stronger than the county regulation. Such a village law would supersede the county's. Over the past several years, communities across the country have enacted smoking restrictions or outright bans, largely in response to research indicating serious health risks for anyone who breathes smoke from others' cigarettes, pipes or cigars. At their August meeting, committee members told staff to give them more detailed sales tax data from other governments with bans. That way they can judge whether prohibiting smoking in businesses drives business away or does the opposite. Read
Committee discusses options on smoke ban
Lincolnwood officials have taken their first steps into consideration of a possible village smoking ban but are making those steps small, at least for now.
Members of the village board's committee on ordinances, rules and buildings met Monday to review staff research into existing Chicago area smoking bans, possible ways Lincolnwood could enact its own. But two of them, trustees Renee Sprogis-Marohn and Nicholas Leftakes, were cool to the idea of doing so.
"Why do we want to be a leader in this? We really don't want to go out on a limb," Leftakes said, while Sprogis-Marohn asked why the village could not just let the county ban kick in and judge its effect before acting.
But committee chairman Yehuda Lebovits said the village needs to hear from its constituents before deciding what it wants to do.
"This is the time for us to look at what's out there, for us to get educated. If we are going to consider ordinances, we want to open it up to the public and to our business owners, to get their views," he said.
The committee will meet again, possibly in late September, to hear people's views, including those of anti-smoking advocates.
First members want staff to provide them with more detailed sales tax data from other governments with bans. That way they can judge whether prohibiting smoking in restaurants, offices and stores drives business away or does the opposite.
Over the past several years cities, governments across the nation have passed laws regulating or banning smoking. Many acted in response to research that indicates serious health risks for anyone who breathes smoke from others' cigarettes, pipes or cigars. The most recent study was released earlier this year by the Surgeon-General's office.
The Cook County Board approved a ban this year which goes into effect next March. Skokie, Evanston, Chicago and other area communities have also passed smoking laws, some of which will be phased in gradually.
Village resident Gary Langwell was the only audience member Monday, but he emphatically opposed any bans at all. Langwell, who owns a Chicago business, said bans hurt business owners.
"Businesses pay taxes, they're the life blood of a community, they should be allowed to make the choice," he said. He also asked "Why should we allow Cook County to tell us what to do?"
Lebovits told Langwell that the county law would legally bind Lincolnwood unless the village enacts its own regulations. If the board chooses to do nothing, the county's ordinance will prohibit smoking in any enclosed public place, place of employment or within 15 feet of any enclosed entrance. The law exempts private clubs, 25 percent of hotel rooms, private homes and some nursing home spaces.
Because Lincolnwood has broad home-rule powers, it could choose to pass its own law, which would take precedence over the county's. The municipal regulations could be weaker or stronger than the county effort, he said.
"So we will be making a choice, no matter what we do," he said.
Last week Lebovits said he did not think committee or board members opposed the idea of regulating smoking in public spaces: "I don't think anyone disagrees at this point that having an ordinance is a good thing. It's more an attitude of 'Do we want to wait until March of 2007 for (the county ordinance) to go into effect?'"
At the time he said village officials understand that, in addition to health considerations surrounding second-hand smoke, there are economic repercussions to banning smoking in places such as bars, restaurants or other businesses. Read
Smoking ban delights Turry
March 23, 2006
BY KATHY ROUTLIFFE
STAFF WRITER
Lincolnwood Mayor Jerry Turry reacted with glee last Thursday to news of a county-wide smoking ban, saying that it probably would obviate the need for discussions he had planned to hold about possible village-level smoke restrictions.
"They passed it? Great, that's cool," he said, after hearing that Cook County Board commissioners voted 13-3 on March 15 to prohibit smoking in suburban restaurants, bars and most other indoor workplaces. "I'm tickled and delighted."
The county's new measure is stronger than the recently passed City of Chicago law, or that passed two years ago in Skokie. For instance, it does not provide exemptions for stand-alone bars, restaurant facilities with separate smoking areas, or places with smoke filtering systems. It does exclude nursing homes and private clubs.
Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman, who voted against the county measure, said she plans to propose an amendment that would allow bars and restaurants who make a majority of their gross profits from alcohol sales to enjoy a two-year phase-in period.
The county law takes effect in March of next year, and will cover more than 100 county municipalities which don't have a ban of their own.
Communities are free to enact their own bans, and Turry said he had planned to ask Village Board members to discuss that possibility. However, such a discussion is probably moot now, he said.
"We'll probably talk (about the new law) but in reality, because of the new ordinance we won't have to enact our own language."
Turry said having a county-wide ban would prevent the possibility which some business opponents had used when individual governments enacted their own prohibitions; that such bans would simply force smokers into bars and restaurants located in communities with no smoke-free laws.
Diana Lass, executive director of the Lincolnwood Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said local businesses might well welcome the county law, "because it evens out the playing field, so to speak. Unless the community wants to go to public hearings (to pass a municipal law), then this is fine. It shouldn't negatively impact anyone."
|
