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Madison Update
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Smoking ban foes mobilize
Soglin joins with taverns, others to push repeal
Smoking ban foes mobilizeSoglin joins with taverns, others to push repeal
By Lee Sensenbrenner
August 4, 2005
With allies such as former Mayor Paul Soglin and reports from 73 bars that business in July was off by roughly one-third, a new coalition says it is prepared to overturn Madison's smoking ban.
"I don't go into battles like this to lose them," former north side Ald. Dorothy Borchardt said Wednesday as the newly formed group, the Coalition to Save Madison Jobs, made sure that it was properly registered with the City Clerk's Office.
The coalition's central argument is that the month-old smoke-free ordinance is badly hurting the livelihood of bar staff. That, Borchardt said, will play prominently in their slogan, the T-shirts they plan to begin selling this weekend, a rally downtown and possibly also in advertisements.
"If it comes to a referendum, you can bet we'll be running ads," Borchardt said in an interview. For now, the Coalition to Save Madison Jobs - led by bar owners Joe Klinzing and Patty Telvick - is focusing on changing the minds of three more members of the City Council.
Telvick, who owns the Buckeye Inn on the east side, said that it is "very possible" that they are attaining that goal as more and more bar staff tell firsthand stories to their City Council representatives.
"We're honestly in to fight for our lives," Telvick said. "We're in for the long haul, whatever it takes."
She reported that business in her bar, at the edge of the city on the southeast side, was down 23 percent compared with last July and that they have gone from three bartenders on a Friday night to one. Additionally, her beer orders have plummeted. She used to order 100 cases of beer per week from each of two main distributors. Now she said she orders 25.
Gathering steam: The City Council originally passed the smoking ban with only five voting against it, but with changeover from last year's elections and Alds. Santiago Rosas and Lauren Cnare rethinking their position, the vote is coming closer to the 11-vote majority.
"We can't pick up enough votes to override a veto by the mayor," Borchardt said. But by her calculations, they will reach 11 or 12 votes, relying on newer members to reconsider the effects of the ban.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's spokesman George Twigg acknowledged Wednesday that the future of the smoke-free ordinance was something that the mayor's office was discussing. But when asked about a veto, he declined to say what Cieslewicz would do.
"It's hard to say," Twigg said. "We don't know what we'll be looking at."
"We're not going to talk about a veto," he added.
Meanwhile, Ald. Brian Benford, who represents the northeast district that was formerly Borchardt's, said that he has gotten "heartbreaking" calls from bar employees who say their hours and tips are vanishing, and that they are not able to pay bills.
"I know it's very tough on a lot of people," he said. "It just tears your heart out."
He said that when he voted to enact the rules that forbade smoking in all bars, bowling lanes and other indoor venues, he believed that he was representing the majority of his constituents. He avoided making any promises about whether he would cast another vote in favor of the smoking ban.
He offered the arguments that succeeded in passing the ban: clearing the air of smoke improved the health of workers and other places that forbade smoking did not report a significant economic impact. He said his constituents were behind him when he voted in favor the ban.
"In the end, I'll vote for what the majority of my constituents want," he said.
Benford is a member of the local political party Progressive Dane, which has taken a lot of abuse from critics who blame it for the smoking ban. But Benford said that former Ald. Steve Holtzman had more to do with the smoking ban than Progressive Dane, and he said his party had nothing to do with his vote on the issue.
He said that there would be no punishment if he were to change his vote on the smoking ban.
"They certainly wouldn't do that," he said. "They wouldn't throw me out of the party."
Ald. Mike Verveer, another member of Progessive Dane, was among the five City Council members who originally opposed the smoking ban.
Direct legislation? If a reconsideration of the smoke-free ordinance does not overturn the law, which took effect on July 1, the other course that's open to The Coalition to Save Madison Jobs is called a petition for direct legislation.
Under this state law, a petition would have to gather a number of signatures in Madison greater than 15 percent of the voter turnout in the last gubernatorial election. Then, the City Council would have to either adopt the petition or hold a referendum on the matter.
In a conversation with Nitty Gritty tavern owner Marsh Shapiro, Soglin said he advocated this route - petitioning the city to return to the old smoke-free ordinance that kept cigarettes out of restaurants but still allowed them in bars.
"I think that campaign can be won," Soglin said Wednesday, adding that a successful referendum would "stick it" to the City Council.
Once a smoker himself but no longer, Soglin said that the current law fails because it has landed on the backs of Madison workers and it has hurt efforts to regulate smoking statewide.
"There are a lot of values that are at stake in this public discussion," Soglin said.
First, he said that it was a mistake to think that because California or Manhattan enacted smoking bans that something similar - or even more restrictive - would work in Madison.
"I don't think much thought was given to all the consequences," he said. Not only is Madison a city of jagged and irregular municipal borders, but the smoking ban came on the heels of other actions that Soglin said "drove up the cost of doing business" in the city.
Now, it's putting the city's leaders in on a "dangerous philosophical path" as some argue that the state should not enact a less restrictive statewide ban on smoking. Soglin said regulating smoking is an appropriate action for the state, and one it could do with greater effect than the city of Madison.
Ban the ban: The coalition began meeting on Monday and this weekend they plan to begin selling "ban the ban" T-shirts, Borchardt said. Their rally is planned for 5 p.m. Aug. 16 in front of the City County Building.
"We're saying 'Call an Alder, save a job,' " said Borchardt, who does not smoke. "That's what this is all about: jobs."
Borchardt collected reports from 73 bars, nearly all of which reported being hurt by the ban. She said those losing business ranged from Mickey's Tavern on Williamson Street to VFW Post 1318.
http://www.madison.com/
Madison Mayor Speaks On Smoking Ban
August 2, 2005
Madison's mayor is addressing concerns about the city's smoking ban.
As we first told you, businesses we spoke with say they have seen a sharp drop in business compared to this time last year, and they say the smoking ban is the reason. After seeing the figures, one alderman says he's now against the ban, and wants to retract it.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says the ban is in its beginning stages. "I think we need some time to allow this to shake out before we make any rash judgements. The other point I want to make is this is good for public health. The main reason we did this is as a public health measure."
The Mayor adds that he has received dozens of letters from people who say they appreciate the smoking ban.
Smokers must stand up to tobacco bans
Jul 29, 2005
I believe that all business owners should have the right to choose whether or not to allow smoking in their establishments.
If people don't want to patronize an establishment that allows smoking, then there are other places they can go that don't allow it.
Why should we, as smokers, have our rights taken away from us?
Ultimately we do pay more in taxes than those of you who don't smoke. Not to mention that it does hurt a lot of local businesses that rely on smokers and non-smokers alike.
Since the smoking ban took effect in Wausau restaurants, sales have gone down in places that used to allow smoking.
Now people are going to travel out of the city limits to go to places where they can smoke and that will also take revenue away from Wausau.
I hope more people have the courage to stand up and say something.
Dale A. Eastman,
Rothschild
Smoking ban battle smoldering
7/31/05
Sandy Cullen Wisconsin State Journal
In the words of Madison City Council member Lauren Cnare, "It's the vampire of ordinances."
"It keeps coming back to life," Cnare said of the city's new smoking ban. "It's a really, really ugly issue."
With many Madison bars and bowling alleys feeling the sting of lost business, at least one City Council member has had a change of heart about his support for the ban.
"I now believe that the council was a bit overzealous," said council member Santiago Rosas.
Rosas, who represents the 17th District, voted for the ban, which went into effect July 1. But after abstaining from a vote to repeal the law on July 5, Rosas said he would now join five other council members who voted to rescind the ban.
Council member Judy Compton, 16th District, who was absent for the July 5 vote, also said she is "absolutely" in favor of repealing the law that bans smoking in all workplaces.
"This is a business decision that the government has no business getting involved in," Compton said, adding that people can choose whether they want to work or to patronize establishments that allow smoking.
Council member Isadore Knox Jr., who also abstained from the July 5 vote, said he would be willing to consider a compromise that protected workers' health as well as the rights of non-smokers, such as allowing specially ventilated areas for smoking, which employees did not have to enter.
Now, with possibly eight of the 11 votes needed to alter the law, a push is on to convince a few more council members to support repealing or changing one of Wisconsin's most restrictive smoking bans.
"I support the fact that it needs to be brought back for repeal," Compton said, adding, "I do think we'll see it in the fall for sure."
Council member Paul Skidmore, 9th District, who is opposed to the ban, also predicts that a serious effort to repeal it ban within two to four months.
Rosas said he believes council members did not fully understand the negative implications for business, especially bars and restaurants on the city's East Side.
Since the ban went into effect, Rosas said he has visited several bars in his district, as well as establishments in other parts of the city, and has seen the negative impact first-hand.
Knox said he planned to drop into bars along Regent Street in his 13th District over the weekend to see how they are faring and talk with patrons.
Rosas said he believes more data need to be collected on how the ban is affecting businesses and what they will do if revenues continue to fall short.
Former council member Dorothy Borchardt, who has been surveying business owners, recently gave council members a list of about 40 establishments whose operators say business was down from 30 to 60 percent in the first two weeks of the ban compared to the same time last year.
Borchardt wasn't immediately available to describe her survey method, including how she chose the bars from which she obtained information.
Hardest hit, according to the survey, was the bowling alley Dream Lanes, in Cnare's District 3.
Unlike bar patrons, who can easily walk outside to have a cigarette, Cnare said, you can't run out for a smoke in bowling shoes because if they get wet, injuries can occur on the lanes. •
Settle this with a vote?
Despite the ban's apparent negative economic impact, Cnare and other council members are committed to standing behind it.
When the ordinance came back to life for a repeal vote, Cnare said she went back to residents in her district and found most supported keeping the smoking ban in its current form.
"There's probably some merit to putting this to rest by a compromise," Cnare said, adding that ultimately, it could take a referendum to put the issue to rest. "I think it would show people don't want smoking in bars."
But if a majority of city residents don't want smoking allowed in bars, they don't seem to be flocking to the smoke- free establishments, Cnare said.
Janet Piraino, chief of staff to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said the mayor is concerned about how the ban is impacting businesses. "Any time businesses are struggling in Madison, believe me, they have his attention," she said.
But Piraino said that after experiencing an initial drop, business picked back up at establishments in other cities that have enacted smoking bans.
"I think it's really too early to talk about changing things until we know how it's going to shake out," she said. •
Other negatives
The smoking ban has brought other negatives, some of the ban's supporters admit.
"A lot of the fears I had about litter have come to pass, unfortunately," said council member Austin King, District 8, who still backs the ban.
Council member Mike Verveer, whose District 4 encompasses much of Downtown, including the State Street entertainment district, predicts it's just a matter of time before trouble erupts involving individuals who are smoking outside of bars where they have been drinking.
"Alcohol and testosterone don't mix," said Verveer, who opposes the ban.
Not everyone is skeptical.
"I am amazed that with the number of cities, villages, states and counties that have now passed smoking bans, that this still continues to be so contentious," said council member Robbie Webber, District 5. "Madison is hardly in the forefront on smoke-free workplaces. It has worked all over the country, and it can work here."
Madison Bar Owners Fuming Over Smoking Ban
Council Members Who Supported Ban Now Changing Their Minds
July 25, 2005
MADISON, Wis. -- City council members said they voted for a smoking ban ordinance out of good faith to protect public health. But now, as many as eight of them are ready to repeal or modify it because they say it's already caused hardship for businesses, News 3 reported.
Since the smoking ban took effect July 1, bar owners like Mark Deadman of Busse's said he hasn't seen some of his regular customers.
"It's knocked us down big-time," Deadman said. "We normally barely break even or perhaps lose a little in July. This year, I'm losing about a third."
Since July 1, Wiggie's bar also reported lost revenue -- about a 40 percent drop. But it's not just the periphery bars taking a hit. Downtown bars, such as Bullfeathers and The Klinic said they've lost 35 percent. Willy Street Pub also reported that business down 40 percent.
"If they're having trouble now, and it's the best time of the year, they're really going to have trouble when people can't go outside comfortably," said former alderwoman Dorothy Borchardt.
Borchardt said she isn't a smoker, but says putting pressure like this on businesses just isn't right. She's compiling data on the losses of area bars and sending it on to council members.
"If we don't address this concern, we are going to have businesses closing come wintertime," Borchardt said.
Alderman Austin King said it's too early to call the ban a success or a failure. He'd like to wait and see what happens over the course of a year.
"Without a smoking ban, four or five bars will go out of business anyway," said King District 8. "There's a natural turnover. Some bars fail, some succeed."
Even with eight council members in favor of a repeal, King said support is not likely to grow any larger.
"If someone were to convince me secondhand smoke doesn't cause cancer, I might change my mind," King said.
Deadwood said he can't wait to see what happens. "We need relief," he said. "We need relief soon."
An attempt to repeal the smoking ban failed in a 12-5 vote two weeks ago. A couple of those who voted to keep it have changed their minds, News 3 reported.
One of them, Santiago Rosas, said he changed his mind because he stopped by a north side business and saw the effects himself. Rosas challenges other council members and the mayor to go out and see for themselves.
Results of a Smoking Ban... Dear Editor, July 18th's article on Madison's smoking ban carried no surprises for those of us around the country fighting the hugely powerful lobbying force of Antismoking extremists. One bar may close after 32 years in business, another has their revenues down 60%, two others complain about the nonexistent surge of nonsmokers that they were told would suddenly pour into their establishments. Anyone with internet access who visited the Ban Losses section of SmokersClubInc.com over the past year or so would have seen hundreds of similar examples in communities where big money and TV advertising forced bans on local bars and restaurants. The promises made by the Antismoking Lobby about the aftereffects of bans are simple lies designed to discourage resistance until it's too late. Then once local bans are in place they tell another lie: the pain will all be gone once you have the "level playing field" of a statewide ban. The lies extend beyond the economic effects though: most of what people are being told about the "dangers" of normal exposures to secondary smoke are lies as well. To this date there has never been a single study supporting the concept that the low levels of smoke encountered in modern, well-ventilated businesses has killed ANYone, much less the thousands that are claimed. Studies condemning secondary smoke are almost always based either on decades of concentrated and relatively unventilated exposure or upon experimental chamber conditions with unrealistically intense smoke levels and the measurements performed are of "biomarkers" that have little literal health meaning. Madison's Antismokers and the big groups funding them funding them have destroyed the lives and businesses of real individuals for the sake of a social engineering goal guised in the cloak of "protecting workers' health." Those workers will find themselves distinctly less healthy as they try to support their families on unemployment checks unless Madison does something about an extremist and unnecessary ban law. Sincerely, Michael J. McFadden Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains" http://www.smokersclubinc.com/antibrains.html http://smokersclubinc.com
Madison bars say revenues dissipating with smoking ban
July 18, 2005
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - Some Madison tavern owners say their revenues are going up in smoke because of the city's new smoking ban in bars and restaurants. Some customers say they are heading to out-of-city pubs to enjoy a smoke with their drink.
The city ordinance took effect July 1, with Madison joining about 20 other Wisconsin cities with some kind of ban on smoking.
The move created a firestorm of controversy, with smokers accusing the City Council of trying to run their lives. A faction of aldermen already wants to repeal the ban, and Republican legislators are trying to pass a bill to water down local ordinances statewide.
"It's terrible, absolutely terrible," said Cal Beecher, owner of the Tip Top Tavern. "I've been here 32 years. It's going to close me down."
Terry Olson, co-owner of Ole 'N Rick's North Side Inn in Madison, said business is down 60 percent and he started cutting back shifts for three or four bartenders Monday.
"If we can't make it with that, we'll have to lay somebody off," he said.
Owners said blue-collar bars on the city's east side are being especially hard hit by the new rules. First-time violators face up to $125 in fines if they don't quit or leave. A second offense carries a maximum $500 fine.
Ryan Eisenhut of Cottage Grove said he used to hit Madison bars at least three times a week on his way home from work. On Wednesday, he was at Tully's II in Monona.
"The downtown bars are fun, but not anymore. The fact that they don't have smoking now, I won't go there," he said. "Wait until it's 10 below and they try to get people out there in the parking lot (to smoke)."
Patty Telvick, general manager of the Buckeye Inn, said her regulars have disappeared and nonsmokers have not taken their place.
"Where are my nonsmokers that the city promised me?" Telvick said.
Dave Wiganowsky, owner of Wiggie's, said nonsmokers do not spend enough to make up for the loss of customers.
"We had two nonsmokers," Wiganowsky said. "They bought two cans of pop and said, 'Isn't this wonderful?' and walked out. That won't pay the light bill."
Meanwhile, bars just outside Madison are reporting an increase in customers.
In Fitchburg, Monkeyshines has "picked up quite a few customers," said day manager Jason Cushman.
"I know I've got a couple saying they're completely done with Madison because of this, that it's an infringement on their rights," Cushman said. "They don't hate the places they used to go. They feel sorry for them. They just won't drink there because of the smoking ban." http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12158274.htm
Madison's Smoking Ban Up For Repeal
Wiggie's Bar Owner Calls Ban 'Disaster'
July 5, 2005
MADISON, Wis. -- Even though Madison's smoking ban has been law since last week, it's on the city council's agenda tonight.
The smoking ban outlaws smoking in all restaurants and bars.
Alders Paul Skidmore and Jed Sanborn, along with Cindy Thomas and Judy Compton, are backing a smoking ban repeal. Some alders told News 3 it's a waste of time, but some tavern owners are grateful for the fight.
The holiday weekend was the first test of the smoking ban. Dave Wiganowsky, who owns Wiggie's bar on Aberg Avenue, said he had half the business he would typical have on a holiday Friday.
"(It's a) disaster," Wiganowsky said. "We'll probably be lucky if we've got 20 percent of the crowd we normally have in here."
Wiganowsky also had to deal with belligerent customers.
"Some of the bartenders are taking verbal abuse," he said. "One guy came in lit a cigarette. We told him he had to put it out. He flipped the bird, walked out the door, and didn't finish paying for what he ordered."
Janie Capito has a more positive outlook on how the ban will affect her businesses, Mickey's and Lazy Jane's Café, both on Williamson Street. "I have a feeling we may have more customers coming," she said.
Wiganowsky said he's glad the smoking ban is getting a second look. "It was an uphill battle the last time and obviously there's a few new people on there," he said.
Alder Robbie Webber argues it's a waste of time.
"I'm not even sure why we're rehashing this again," Webber said. "The original smoking ban passed 15 to 5."
Skidmore said the smoking ban repeal is about freedom of choice for bars and places, such as Essenhaus that built ventilation systems.
"Just because the votes may not be there, that doesn't mean its not the right thing to do," Skidmore said.
Skidmore believes that in six months to a year, it will be more apparent if the ban has hurt businesses or forced them to close. Skidmore also said the repeal is timely because it could put pressure on the less-strict statewide ban currently working its way through the Legislature.
News 3 found some bar hoppers out over the weekend who haven't been going out because they didn't like the smoke.
"There have been times before when friends have said, 'Do you want to come out and see this person perform?' And they say, 'Is it worth going out?' But now I'd definitely be more inclined," said Mark Wegner.
Even Diana Ditsch, who is six months pregnant and previously worried going out in smoky bars would be unhealthy for her pregnancy, was out in the city's new smoke-free nightlife.
"We still support their business, and we want them to have that great atmosphere, and we can have that without smoking," Ditsch said.
Monona resident Jeff Bakken said it's been five years since he's gone out in Madison to Genna's, which he "absolutely loves."
Bartenders at Genna's said that besides one person who accidentally walked in with a cigarette, everyone has observed the new rules and smoked on the patio outside.
Wiganowsky said he's not optimistic.
"I'm not going to refinance the bar in hopes that all these quote 'non-smokers' will come in and lavish me with 10 times the business I'm supposed to have," he said.
If you spot a bar that's allowing smoking, health officials ask you to report the violation by calling (608) 266-4821.
Smoking ban still standing
Council refuses to change course
By Lee Sensenbrenner
July 6, 2005
In a last-gasp effort to return smoking to Madison bars, the City Council came up with no more opposition to the ban than when it originally voted to enact it.
Just five council members voted Tuesday night to overturn the smoke-free ordinance that went into effect Friday. Originally approved on a 15-5 vote, the new law prohibits tobacco use in all bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and other businesses open to the public.
Much of the public hearing before the vote rehashed the arguments that have been going on for the last few years, whether the law will hurt business and what government's role should be.
Ald. Austin King, who represents a student district, said that he had a tough time voting for the ban when it originally passed but now has gotten more compliments about it than any other action the city has taken.
"They are in love with this thing," King said, telling how his constituents have come out of bars and bragged to him how their clothes still smell like laundry detergent.
Ald. Jed Sanborn, who represents part of the far west side, proposed repealing the smoking ban. Elected last April, he was not a member of the council when it enacted the tobacco-free ordinance. He said that he was against the law because he believed it would harm business in the short term and set a bad precedent for further regulation.
"Our freedoms are precious," he said. "If the sake of health is all we need to ban activities ... anything can be a health issue."
But others said that the new law is consistent with decades of reforms intended to protect workers from occupational hazards, and smoking has not truly been banned -- as when some compare the law to prohibition -- it has just been moved outdoors or to private residences.
"I remember as a child when my dad could smoke at movie theaters," Lisa Subeck, a west side resident who ran against Sanborn last spring, said at the public hearing. "This is an issue of the rights of workers."
She said that, based on other areas where tighter smoking rules have taken effect, the economic effect is positive. Just as movie theaters have not gone out of business, she said she doubted that the bars would suffer.
"While some might flee, there will be others who will flock," she predicted of the customer base.
Wait a minute! Some alders want to repeal smoking ban
July 2, 2005
Bar owners, don't throw away those ashtrays.
Madison District 1 Ald. Jed Sanborn has introduced a resolution to repeal the smoking ban that just went into effect Friday.
If the City Council votes to suspend the rules at Tuesday night's meeting, alders could be debating rescinding the ban, which prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants, most hotel rooms and all workplaces.
Sanborn's resolution was co-sponsored by council members Judy Compton, Paul E. Skidmore and Cindy Thomas.
Smokers fume as Madison's smoking ban takes effect
July 2, 2005
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Jeff Bakken has waited for this.
Whenever he goes out for a drink in Madison, the 44-year-old teacher and runner from Monona has sucked in secondhand smoke until now.
The city enacted an ordinance that bans smoking in bars and restaurants Friday. First-time violators face up to $125 in fines if they don't quit or leave. A second offense carries a maximum $500 fine. About 20 other Wisconsin cities have some kind of anti-smoking ban. Appleton's ban, which also extends to bars and restaurants, also took effect Friday.
In Madison, the ban created a firestorm of controversy, with smokers accusing the City Council of trying to run their lives and bar owners fretting over lost customers. Already a faction of aldermen wants to repeal the ban, and state lawmakers are threatening to put a stop to smoking bans.
``We went too far,'' said Alderman Paul Skidmore, a sponsor of the council resolution to restore smoking in bars and eateries.
But George Twigg, a spokesman for Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said the ban will protect the health of bar and restaurant employees as well as customers.
Right on, said Bakken. He showed up at the Argus pub Friday with ``Smoke Free in Mad City 2005'' handwritten in marker on his shirt. He sat at the bar while a group of smokers sat outside in a sidewalk patio.
``That's where we like them. Outside,'' Bakken said. ``It's about their nasty habit imposing on my health.''
Tell that to Rachel Dulik, a 29-year-old Madison screenprinter who was forced to light up outside the Argus for the first time Friday.
``All I want to do is do what I do and everybody leave me alone,'' she said.
Brian Haltinner, 41, runs the Maduro cigar bar near the state Capitol make that the ex-cigar bar. He doesn't know how he'll stay in business.
The City Council considered a measure exempting cigar bars from the ban, but the move didn't fly. He thinks he can hold on with outdoor seating until fall. He doesn't know what will happen when winter comes.
Being a cigar bar ``was the niche we carved out over the last seven years. We've got to find something that makes us different from everyone else,'' Haltinner said.
The City Council could consider the resolution to wipe out the smoking ban at a meeting Tuesday. Skidmore said cigarettes are legal and people can choose whether to go into a smoky bar or restaurant.
Republican legislators, meanwhile, are trying to pass a bill that would permit smoking in taverns and restaurant bars statewide. The measure would still ban smoking in restaurant dining areas, but prohibit local governments from enacting stricter measures.
Lobbyists for the Wisconsin Tavern League pushed the bill, saying it would create a level playing field for bars and restaurants rather than a patchwork of ordinances.
The Assembly passed the measure, which still needs approval from the state Senate and Gov. Jim Doyle.
Doyle spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said the governor doesn't support the bill.
``This would be a step backward for public health,'' Fonder said.
For now, Caroline Marks, a 32-year-old bartender at the Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co. in Madison, couldn't be happier. No more picking up cigarette butts, dumping out dirty ashtrays or going home reeking of smoke.
``It will be nice to be able to go out and not have to take a shower when you come back,'' she said.
Madison's Smoking Ban Could Be Over Before it Begins
Thu 05/12/2005
Madison's smoking ban is supposed to take effect July 1st, but that may not happen. Rivaled only by Appleton, Madison's Common Council passed is one of the strongest smoking bans in the state. Under the ban, smoking would not be allowed in any workplace, without exception.
Now State lawmakers are considering less stringent legislation that would preempt all local smoking bans. The state law allows smoking in taverns, restaurant bars and in bowling centers with some conditions (no smoking during kid's leagues). One of the bills sponsors, Rep. Scott Suder says the legislation is a small business protection bill, aimed at leveling the playing field for businesses hurt by the "hodge podge" of smoking bans throughout the state.
At an Assembly Committee hearing, Madison City Officials asked lawmakers to respect the City's decision to ban smoking across the board, following a lengthy debate. Some committee members criticized the city's ban, saying it is too harmful to small businesses, like a local cigar bar, that may be forced to close.
The American Cancer Society also spoke in opposition of the ban, saying it is a step backward for the state, because it would not allow local governments to pass stronger smoking bans, and it would repeal bans in 20 cities. http://www.wkowtv.com/index.php/news/story/p/pkid/21188
Smoking Ban poses public health risk
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Thursday, April 21, 2005
In just more than two months, barring corrective action, Madison’s taverns will be disturbingly gripped by a counterproductive, anti-libertarian smoking ban. This board has expressed extreme discontent with this pending ban as a whole as well as numerous peripheral issues disconcertingly raised by its proposed implementation. But one dilemma entirely paradoxical to the ban’s proposed benefits has gone largely unnoted of late: the ban will actually prove a public health problem.
Bars and law enforcement officers alike face the inherent constraint of having limited resources. Currently, taverns must dedicate no small modicum of attention to tending to potential brawls, keeping clientele from over-consuming and ensuring a general level of civility in a place patronized oftentimes for the explicit purpose of testing the normal limits of civility.
When bar owners and employees are forced to transform into the ashtray Gestapo to avoid lofty fines from police officers enacting a whole new version of “Smokey and the Bandit,” attention will be inherently diverted away from other, more immediate and crucial concerns for tavern patrons’ welfare. While bar fights and over-consumption pose immediate health risks to the beer purchasing public, the detriments of second-hand smoke – the supposed guiding rationale behind the ban – are long-term, far from inevitable and, yes, smoky. Moreover, crowds of drunk smokers elbow to elbow at the bar’s front door is a prime recipe for liquor-induced fighting. Indeed, it is in the best interest of bar owners and patrons alike for all available resources to be directed toward preventing these already-established risks and not spent confiscating Joe Camel’s hindquarters.
But this is merely one serious issue facing the soon-to-be-implemented smoking ban. Other heavy problems abound, as this board has taken — and will continue to take — great efforts to illustrate. With a new City Council now seated and business back at hand, it is time for alders to come together and actually do something in the best interests of all of Madison’s pub patrons: repeal the smoking ban. http://badgerherald.com/
This new attempt to save Madison, WI from a smoking ban through statewide ban legislation is not a viable choice. Madison has to fight it's own battle now, after they already caved in last year. Madison officials already know they have made a mistake. Madison and the other Wisconsin cities that have enacted smoking bans need to reverse them...now. A Wisconsin state ban on smoking in restaurants???!!! Get real!! Tell that to the that to the thousands of men and families that patronize the Wisconsin eating establishments, while on camping, hunting and fishing trips. Much of the state bears no resemblance to Madison.....thank God! What is the matter with these people? Wisconsin and Michigan are still God's country! How on earth do Antis and legislators expect to enforce a smoking ban for restaurants located in Timbuktu? That is what is still so special about these states...an atmosphere and attitude of freedom and live-and-let-live! These are the places people go to get away from civilization and constraints! In many areas of Wisconsin, when a customer walks into a restaurant and asks about a smoking section, the employees laugh a little and tell them to sit anywhere they want. Instituting a smoking ban, in many areas, would be like telling Davy Crockett to wear a suit and tie if he wants to be served dinner. The only positive thing I can say about this proposed ban is that there is already discord and bickering in the ranks of the Antis as to who is the most powerful. That buys us time to fight them. If I hear the logic of a "level-playing-field" one more time, I think I'm going to break something......... ______________________________ Garnet Dawn - The Smoker's Club, Inc. - Midwest Regional Director The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter - http://www.smokersclubinc.comIllinois Smokers Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/illinoissmokers/mailto:garnetdawn@comcast.net - Respect Freedom of Choice!
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State bill would kill local smoking bans
Council eyes resolution opposing it
THE CAPITAL TIMES
By Judith Davidoff and David Callender
April 1, 2005
In a move that could prevent Madison's upcoming smoking ban in taverns from taking effect, a state lawmaker is expected to introduce a proposal regulating smoking in restaurants statewide.
The law would specifically exclude taverns and bars from the smoking ban.
The bill "is designed to provide a level playing field throughout the state when it comes to smoking in bars and restaurants," said Mike Prentiss, an aide to Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, the bill's author.
"We're greatly strengthening the existing prohibition on smoking and dining in restaurants, and we also provide a statewide standard for taverns that allows business owners to control their own business plans," he said.
Ald. Jean MacCubbin, a sponsor of Madison's smoking ban, has already introduced a resolution to the City Council that opposes any state bills that would pre-empt local control of smoking ordinances. http://www.madison.com/
Madison offers some advice on smoking ban
By Steve Wideman
Post-Crescent staff writer
November 21, 2004
MADISON — Two dozen tables sit unused in a darkened dining room of Pedro’s Mexican Restaurant on Madison’s north side.
Pedro’s owner, Jim Martine, a Neenah native who learned the restaurant trade from his parents when they owned Martine’s restaurant in Appleton, recalls weekends when 200 customers from nearby shopping centers would crowd the dining room, reserved for smokers.
However, he said since Madison passed an ordinance banning smoking in restaurant dining rooms in 2002, those customers have gone elsewhere, along with the jobs needed to serve those customers.
Martine is anticipating a second, more significant financial hit when Madison’s recently passed workplace smoking ban, a strengthening of the 2002 law, takes effect in 2005.
The expanded ordinance will end smoking in the busy sports bar portion of his business.
“It will be devastating. Jobs will be lost,” he said.
Madison’s ban is being used as a model for Appleton’s proposed 100 percent indoor workplace smoking ban. A public hearing is set for the Appleton proposal at 6 p.m., Nov. 30, in the Appleton West High School auditorium, 610 N. Badger Ave.
“They (smoking ban advocates) are going to say Madison did this and it didn’t affect business. That’s not true. It did affect us,” Martine said. “I just hope Appleton doesn’t do to its businesses what Madison has done to us. What they’ve done to me has cost people their jobs.”
Steve Holtzman, the Madison alderman who authored that city’s most recent smoking ban, disagrees with Martine’s assertion that smoking bans are bad for business.
“You always have the industry complaining about a loss of revenue, but the restaurant industry in Madison is healthy,” he said.
According to the Madison City Clerk’s Office, the city has 991 licensed food and drink establishments, including 18 with annual revenues topping $5 million, 94 with revenues above $1 million and 486 with annual revenue of more than $100,000.
Holtzman said smoking is allowed at full-service bars where eating at the bar is considered incidental to the business.
He said the 2002 ordinance was watered down with exemptions making it “unintelligible and unenforceable” including confusing definitions of a bar and restaurant based on percentage of liquor sales. Restaurants with a high enough percentage of liquor sales could be defined as a bar and exempted from the ban.
“We found the percentages easy to manipulate, so in the 2004 ordinance we simply eliminated them and added taverns to the smoking ban to level the playing field for everyone,” Holtzman said.
A Sept. 8, 2003, analysis of the 2002 ordinance by the city’s environmental health department found that upon implementation of the ban, five large and popular restaurants suddenly upped their alcohol sales figures enough to be classified as taverns.
Restaurant operators fought the ban in various ways, according to the report, including one owner who met a requirement that no smoking signs be posted by writing the words on a small white sign in white ink “so no one could see them.”
“We tried to make allowances for full-service bars, but the restaurant industry betrayed us,” Holtzman said.
Holtzman said the Appleton Common Council needs to distinguish between health and economic impacts when considering its workplace smoking ban.
The council needs to review various national studies from other communities and states with bans.
“Elected officials in Appleton are going to have to show courage,” Holtzman said. “They are going to have to recognize the majority of people they represent don’t smoke and that a self-serving tavern industry should not be able to dictate standards for a community.
Martine, past president of the Madison chapter of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, said restaurant owners should be allowed to make their own decisions.
Martine said a second Pedro’s restaurant he owns in Madison is smoke-free at the request of customers and the idea works.
“But I was forced to take smoking out of the dining room in my other restaurant and that has cost me a tremendous amount in sales,” he said.
The complexity of the issue was reflected by 72-year-old Boris Frank, who stopped in Skip Zach’s Avenue Tavern on Monday for lunch.
Frank, a non-smoker, munched on a roast beef sandwich in a booth a short distance from the ashtray-lined bar where a bartender smoked a cigarette.
“Personally, I favor a ban where there are groups coming in, especially where there is food,” Frank said. “But if people want to go to a smoking bar or some restaurant dedicated to smoking I have no problems with that personally.”
Frank lives in Paoli, a community of about 100 people south of Madison. He doesn’t patronize the town’s only bar/restaurant because it allows smoking.
“I think it’s been proven beyond a doubt that second-hand smoke is extremely dangerous,” Frank said. “We should be protecting the rights not only of the patrons, but also the people who work in terms of second-hand smoke exposure.”
The danger and annoyance of second-hand smoke is clear to Keith Daniels, owner of Harmony Grill and Bar, 2201 Atwood Ave., a 20-stool neighborhood bar and eatery on the city’s north side.
Daniels, a non-smoker, permits smoking in his business, but eagerly awaits the workplace smoking ban.
“I get tired of people blowing second-hand smoke in my face and the faces of my employees,” Daniels said. “I know the Wisconsin Tavern League isn’t pleased with me, but I support the ban.”
Daniels doesn’t fear a loss of business when smoking is banned, saying people go to bars to socialize and won’t sit home simply to smoke.
“I have a good friend who owns a bar in San Francisco where smoking was banned. He said he lost business for two months, but then saw it increase,” Daniels said.
Susan Breitbach, co-owner of Fyfe’s Corner Bistro, 1344 E. Washington St., said businesses are facing a tough battle, not only against smoking ban proponents, but themselves.
“You can’t win on this one. You don’t want to expose employees to anything they don’t want to be exposed to,” Breitbach said.
She said one of the biggest problems facing Madison bars and restaurants, a problem identical to one facing Appleton businesses, is being centered in a metropolitan area surrounded by communities without smoking bans.
“For those folks with businesses near the margins of Madison there will be a negative effect for whatever time it takes, and it could be years, for the patchwork of bordering communities to pass smoking bans,” Breitbach said. “It would be better if this was done on a statewide basis so you are not creating pockets of unfair competition.”
Fyfe’s has a large bar operation and separate, upscale dining rooms on two floors. The restaurant is classified among the top 110 in Madison with revenues between $1 million and $5 million.
Breitbach said it’s too early to tell if the Madison ban will lead to employee layoffs.
She urged Appleton aldermen to take a go-slow approach and encourage public participation.
“You are regulating private enterprise. You owe it to businesses to take the time and give everyone a say and come to a middle ground,” Breitbach said. “Council members need to be good listeners and ask questions of people negatively affected by the ordinance.”
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