Montgomery County, Maryland, bans smoking in all restaurants, bars...

[Mike Irwin]

After the Montgomery County Council
passed a bill to prohibit smoking in all public
bars and restaurants, cheers rang out in the
Montgomery County Council chambers from
non-smoking advocates.

This bill comes without the amendment that
would have delayed implementation for at
least two years.

Councilman George Leventhal says it’s not
the role of the Council to “lecture residents
about life choices.†But he says “the rights of
non-smokers are being infringed upon†by
second-hand smoke.

Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, the bill’s
principal sponsor, expects non-smokers from
throughout the Washington region to flock to
Montgomery County restaurants, for the
chance to eat in a smoke-free environment.

But local business owners aren’t so sure. Jeff Black’s two restaurants employ 93 people in Montgomery
County. He says the smoking ban will “dramatically impact†their income. And he says county smokers will
probably just drive over the state line into the District to smoke in bars there -- taking profits away from
Montgomery County.

 

[Marko Kloos]

Councilman George Leventhal says it’s not
the role of the Council to “lecture residents
about life choices.†But he says “the rights of
non-smokers are being infringed upon†by
second-hand smoke.

No, dummy. The rights of restaurant owners are being infringed upon, namely their property rights (which should be the overriding right here).

Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, the bill’s
principal sponsor, expects non-smokers from
throughout the Washington region to flock to
Montgomery County restaurants, for the
chance to eat in a smoke-free environment.

Hey nancy, why don't you check with the bar owners in New York City and Sacramento, and ask them how much extra business they got from the city-imposed smoking bans in their establishments? Hint: their answer will include a suggestion to you which will sound something like "flock".

 

[Mike Irwin]

The bars are going to be crushed by this, especially.

I know at least two bar owners who are currently looking at picking up their businesses and moving them out of Montgomery County.

I've also heard rumors that at least one chain restaurant/bar in the Monkey County area is simply going to shut down 6 businesses and get out of the local market altogether as they're not really thriving, and with this they're going to die anyways.

I almost never smoke when I eat, but I'm certainly going to refrain from going to Monkey County to eat dinner.

 

[themic]

isn't this why there are non-smoking sections?

i don't much care for cigarette smoke while i'm eating, but dammit i can sit in the other section if i want to.

the real problem? now there wil be no place to hide from screaming brat kids in restaurants!

 

[BerettaNut92]

As much as I dislike people smoking next to me, shouldn't this be decided as store policy and not law?

But wait, it's fun bossing people around...

 

[chaim]

Howard County MD (we neighbor Mont. County) did something similar a few years back. They passed a law where any restaraunt or bar that wanted to allow smoking had to completely separate off the smoking section from the non-smoking section. I mean, separate room and completely seperate ventilation system. Those kind of changes aren't cheap. Some businesses had the choice of adding the expensive changes or banning all smoking. Others, because of their layout weren't able to make the changes at all.

Of course the county council and non-smoking activists insisted that this wouldn't hurt business. On the contrary they insisted, business would actually increase because non-smokers would feel more comfortable eating out and going to bars.

Well, I personally know of three bars that went out of business partially due to this law (completely in one case). Two made the renovations and took on too much debt to do so than they could handle. One did not make the renovations because the layout of the room wouldn't allow it. This bar had been a neighborhood hangout with a very loyal following for about 20+years and without smoking (smoking and bars just seems to go together) they couldn't make it.

When there are other nearby options, and in this area one can find bars and restaraunts in other jurisdictions within about a 20-30 min drive of just about anywhere, people will simply go out of county.

 

[2dogs]

Well, with the Fourth of July coming it's probably a good time to reflect on what gutless wonders we in this country have become.

Is there any insult to our intelligence that we we will not tolerate?

 

[greyhound]

This has always been a pet peeve of mine (though I am a non-smoker). At some point folks who didn't like cigarette smoke decided that they should start claiming they were "allergic" to it. If a had a nickel for everyone who claimed to be "allergic" to cigarettes. Now I'm sure that some people really are allergic, but it seems to me that the standard reason why people want to ban smoking in certain areas is because they are "allergic" to it. Ever since they started with that tactic its been downhill for the poor smokers. (they've also thrown in a good amount of "what about the children" but I won't go there. Oops I just did). Don't like it, go start your own bar/restaurant!!!

 

[Mark Tyson]

Montgomery county is a fascist, do-gooder nanny-state within the fascist, do-gooder nanny state of Maryland. This is a stupid law written by arrogant, pushy busybodies who want to run everyone's life.

And I don't even smoke!

This won't be the end of it, either.

Whew, that felt good.

 

[CZ-100]

Starting today in Florida it is state wide...

 

[Bruce in West Oz]

No smoking in restaurants has been the law here for a few years now. It has made no difference whatsoever to customer numbers (so we're told).

Smoking in pubs is heavily restricted to limited bars/areas -- a total ban was only just (last week) narrowly rejected by the government. IMO, the ban will be implemented sometime within the next 12 months.

Smoking is also banned in all workplaces across Australia. ($50 000 fine for individuals; $250 000 fine for the company)

Trouble is, the anti-smokers don't stop there. They now want smoking banned in your own car -- and if a child is present in the car, they want the smoker charged with child abuse.

You can -- still -- smoke in the street, but I think it's something like a $300 fine for dropping a butt.

Many outdoor venues and functions (e.g. concerts in the park or on the beach) are now routinely made "no smoking".

You got a way to go to catch us.

Bruce-who-gave-up-the-glorious-weed-21-dreary-months-ago-after-35-years-and-still-misses-it

Yesssss! IBTL

 

[rrader]

Councilman George Leventhal says it’s not the role of the Council to “lecture residents about life choices

Contradicted by; this same council proposed several years ago to ban smoking in private homes if the smoke could conceivably drift over a property line or into an adjoining apartment; this is the same council that has considered legislation to declare exposing children to cigarette smoke as child abuse; the same council which instituted a far-left pro-gay curricula in the public schools promoting "diversity" and "tolerance" of gays and their lifestyle; etc...

Montgomery County MD <---- Socialist piss-hole

 

[Mikul]

I'm exceptionally sensitive to cigarette smoke. If there is someone within the same room as I am, smoking a cigarette, I know it. If this person is within 10 feet I literally can't breathe. In the days before non-smoking sections in restaurants, I avoided eating out. It wasn't worth it. Ever since then, it has been a lot better. I'm happy with two sections in the restaurant, but this Montgomery County law and it's illegitimate sister in California are over the top.

 

[foghornl]

I hardly ever go to a bar, since I hardly ever drink, but the last time I was in a "bar", it looked like approximately 70% of the patrons were smokers.

So, if you take away 70% of a busineses customers/clients/patrons, I don't know of too many businesses that could take that kind of hit and keep on.....

 

[cameroneod]

Im in Minot, ND right now. They passed a similar law last year, although bars are exempt. I talked to quite a few non-smokers about it, and they all thought that two seperate sections was just fine. BTW - has anyone read the REAL studies about second hand smoke? Its actually pretty funny. Ill see if I cant find a link.

 

[cameroneod]

Found one, theres a lot more.

The odds ratio of contracting cancer fromchlorinated tap water, for example, has been calculated by the EPA to be1.5 - not enough to worry about, in other words. Yet the EPA used an oddsratio of 1.19 - considerably smaller than that of chlorinated tap water -to classify ETS as a human carcinogen.The LINK

 

[Jeeper]

If an individual county does it then it is bad for business. If a state does it then it really shouldnt affect anything. The non-smoking atmosphere in bars was the only thing I liked about working in california. It was nice to come home home from a bar not stinking like a$$. The property rights discussion has been beat to death in other posts so I wont continue it here.

 

[chaim]

If an individual county does it then it is bad for business. If a state does it then it really shouldnt affect anything.

Except for businesses near the state line.

Suppose this was a MD state law instead of a Montgomery County law. Mont. County bars and restaraunts would have nothing to worry about, right? Wrong!

Lets take "downtown" Silver Spring. Parts of it are only feet from the DC line and all of it ("downtown") is within blocks of DC.

Bethesda, Rockville, Wheaton, and other major commercial areas are all within a 10-20min drive of DC and about 20-30min drive from the big entertainment districts (Georgetown, Adams Morgan, etc) and within 30 min from several nice commercial areas in NOVA (northern Virginia).

In a state like MD where most of the most populated areas are within 30-45min of other states, and often from population centers in VA, DE and PA I can see this hurting business pretty badly even if it was statewide (and yes, it probably is coming soon).

Now in Bruce's situation where it is nationwide, sure I'd agree that it probably wouldn't hurt businesses much since no one will have any other choices (well, other than staying home).