Washington Smoking Ban
From UANotebook
Contents |
Text of Initiative 901
- The Initiative's proposed amendments, additions, and deletions to the Clean Indoor Air Act (RCW 70.160) (Revised Code of Washington) from Secretary of State Sam Reed: PDF (45k) HTML
Commentary
Criticism of the "Nanny State"
from http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0603/nanny-seattle.php
printer-friendly version available locally: http://urbanarchives.org/documents/articles/Dawdy--20060118--Big_Nanny_is_Watching_You/
Local anecdotes
at Victrola Coffee
from Victrola's blog (http://www.victrolacoffee.net/archives/2005/12/blowing-smoke/)
Seattle’s new smoking law is in effect, banning smoking indoors in public places and within 25 feet of any entrance or window to a public establishment. The usual crowd of beloved puffers that add color to our sidewalk even in the crappiest weather has vanished, leaving a gleaming row of empty chairs. Though the law took effect less than a week ago, the Dept of Public Health has wasted no time in alerting us to our first official complaint (via certified mail) of “PATRONS SMOKING WITHIN A PROTECTED AREA”. The ashtrays were removed but somehow a few of those crafty smokers still manage to light up, and the city has put us on notice that its our job to stop ‘em.
If only Seattle’s Dept of Planning and Development was as proactively interested in the minutia of local small businesses as the Health Dept, we might not have to wait endlessly on the permits for our new roastery.
at the Monkey Pub
from http://www.thedaily.washington.edu/index.php?storyID=14884
printer-friendly version available locally: http://urbanarchives.org/documents/articles/Sengul--Smoke_Haven_no_more.html
at Beth's Cafe
from Madrid, Cienna. "Sullivan: Waiter at Beth's Cafe" (in "Seattle's Only Restaurant Section") The Stranger ( Feb 23 - Mar 1, 2006). Retrieved from http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=30877
"The smoking ban has really affected our business. I've never seen it this slow before."
Notes from Afar
from http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2006/01/chicagos_legal.shtml
Chicago's (Legal) Smokeasy
As a smoking ban takes effect this week in Chicago, a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds has opened an upscale cigarette lounge there. Although the Marshall McGearty Tobacco Lounge also serves alcohol, snacks, and coffee drinks, it's exempt from the ban (which at any rate does not cover bars or restaurants with bars until July 2008) because it counts as a "retail tobacco store," defined as a business that gets at least 65 percent of its revenue from selling tobacco or tobacco accessories. Predictably, antismokers are complaining that, although the place complies with the letter of the law, it does not comply with its "spirit," inasmuch as it allows people to relax in a pleasant environment and enjoy a cigarette. They also worry about the lounge's impact on impressionable young people. "It's trying to get an 18-to-25 demographic here, to make smoking seem desirable, attractive, like a secret club," says Bronson Frick, associate director for Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.
First people like Frick campaign to banish smokers from virtually every indoor location; then they complain that the few remaining sanctuaries have the aura of "a secret club." This is like prohibitionists complaining that speakeasies make drinking seem cool.
Posted by Jacob Sullum at January 19, 2006 09:18 AM
