Oh, thank GOD.

[apocalypsos]

They repealed the smoking ban in Scranton.

I'm not a smoker, but I don't give a damn if anybody else smokes near me. And in a bar I kind of expect to walk right into a cloud of smoke. You want to smoke, I don't care. I get bothered, my legs work and I can walk away.

A while ago the Scranton city council passed a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in the city limits. The majority opinion was that it was dumb and ill-conceived, the most important reason being because it was costing bars lots of money in lost revenue. The way the area is structured means all you had to do was drive five more minutes in any direction and you'd find a bar in a smaller town outside Scranton where you could smoke.

It's not so much the ban that bothered me and a lot of other people -- it was how it came to be. Apparently a local high school class was learning about how laws are passed and their teacher encouraged a group of them to make up a law and take it to a city council meeting to try and get it passed. When they took it there the council thought it was so fabulous they just passed the damn thing. No warning, no announcement to the community that there'd be a vote on it so they could get their thoughts heard -- nothing. Just passed it.

Not that I think the kids did a bad thing, really. I'm sure they didn't think it would just get passed and I'm positive they didn't think about what a ban like that would do the businesses in Scranton.

But I did wince when they had a big picture of them in the newspaper soon after the ban was passed. Way to identify them to a pissed-off city full of smokers, Times-Tribune. *eye roll*

Stupid city. *pokes it with a stick*

Comments

[cleobourne.livejournal.com]

Can just imagine the mob with lit torches and pitchforks

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

Scotland passed a law that bans smoking in public buildings last year. So far it's worked really well, and in 5 weeks the law will cover all the UK. I agree that it's stupid to only have a law like that covering a small area, but on a large scale it's great. I used to work in a cafe with a smoking section, and by the end of the day I could barely breathe (I'm asthmatic). Jobs were thin on the ground, so I couldn't walk away. I had to choose between paying my rent and my health.

It's ten times worse for people who work in bars. My sisters both worked as barmaids, and they both suffered a lot of smoking-related illnesses despite the fact that they don't smoke themselves.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I think the one thing that everybody's pretty much agreed on is that the ban itself is not a bad thing. The smoke gets to everybody sometimes and it's gotta suck if you work there, and if it bugs you you can always go somewhere where you can smoke for a little bit just like those of us who don't can leave if we have to.

The big problem was the complete lack of warning and the fact that it wasn't put to a vote. Businesses didn't get to have their say about what this might do to them, smokers didn't get to protest it. Most of the people I've heard complaining about it said they would have been annoyed but would have just dealt with it if it had been put on a ballot instead. The attitude of the whole thing was very, "Don't worry, we know what's best for you," with pats on the head all around, and even if it is true nobody's about to put up with that condescending crap.

[bastian1967.livejournal.com]

Hey

Come on up to Ontario. There are 2 places left that you can smoke. In the privacy of your own home (which they are trying to ban, because maybe not everyone in your family smokes) and outside as long as you are anywhere from 9 to 100 metres aways from any building entrance.

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

I'll have to disagree. the best thing that happened here was our smoking ban - then again it's country-wide. we had a year's lead in. many bars went non-smoking in the run up and started selling food. they've all reported an upturn in profit.

I've lost clothes because of ciggie burns on dance floors. doesn't happen now.

My 2p.

[etoilepb.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of eatery smoking bans, because I can't eat or drink in places where people smoke. So if I'd moved to New York a year before I did, I'd pretty much never have gone to any bar... ever.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Heh. Oh, they've suspended this ban, but apparently there's one going through the state legislature to make the entirety of Pennsylvania smoke-free. That should go over like gangbusters, too, I imagine. :)

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, that's the difference. There was a warning there, the bars had a chance to prepare and everybody knew this was coming. When one day you're allowed to smoke in the city and the next day you're not and you never even got to put your two cents in ... well, people were really pissed off about that. And as for me I just don't like them slapping bans like that into law without a little warning first. I don't like the thought of them getting in the habit of that with other things.

But since I don't smoke, though, it doesn't affect me one way or the other, aside from having to hear smokers whine. (Don't even get me started on my co-workers who smoke. If you want to see me turn on the smokers so fast their heads spin, stand right next to me when they start complaining that we didn't get the extra break we're only supposed to get when we do well the night before. Oh, no, they can't smoke for four whole hours! *eye roll* Boo fucking hoo.)

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I probably would have voted for the smoking ban myself if given the chance. But we weren't even allowed to know about it, much less say anything about it or vote it in ourselves, and that's where my big problem is.

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

they'd been trying to do a smoking ban here in pittsburgh, home of cheap beer and cigarettes. And football fans. And it's just been a mess. I don't care either way, I'd just prefer they pick a law and stick with it, because it keeps going back and forth. It's like Smoking Roullette.

[kirana-44.livejournal.com]

On a small scale I could see an issue I guess. But I was really happy when Maine went no smoking in public places.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Whoa, how the hell did they do that without a warning or a vote? That's ridiculous.

That being said, however, the state wide ban, given a warning and a vote, sounds like a good idea to me. I like to eat without the risk of an asthma attack.

[trinity_clare]

Yeah, my town has had a smoking ban for a while now, but they argued the hell out of it first. And I can see where not arguing the hell out of it would be a problem.

[ladysorka]

Heh, you want interesting smoking bans, we banned it in bars and restaurants here in Las Vegas in the fall. Of course, that one was actually a referendum on the ballot, which makes it better than, uh, passing a law with no warning.

Which is pretty stupid.

[okelle.livejournal.com]

Most major cities have smoking bans in public places, and their economies are doing just fine. It's refreshing to be able to go to a club or a bar and not come home smelling like an ashtray. Just sayin'.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

I'm of the opinon that smoking bans in resteraunts = thing of beauty. Smoking ban in bars = kills the atmosphere.

Of course, it completely sucks there was no warning on that. In Lexington they had, what? I think it was a six month warning before everything went smoke-free. And that's in a state known for tobacco production.

[budclare.livejournal.com]

In the privacy of your own home (which they are trying to ban, because maybe not everyone in your family smokes)

I had an apartment once with a neighbor who smoked. The smell just came right into my apartment. I was delighted.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Like I said, it's not the smoking ban itself that's the problem -- it's that they gave no one any warning and just instituted it at the drop of a hat so the businesses and their patrons weren't prepared at all.

[strix-an-stones.livejournal.com]

Thank GOD I am working to move to West Virginia. They only have laws on important things like rape and murder. Pennsylvania is turnign into a huge ass collection of sissies and whiners.

[strix-an-stones.livejournal.com]

My problem with smoking bans? My husband smokes, I do not. When restaurants went to segregated smoking areas we ended up only going to a handful of places that I didn't much care for but he liked because we weren't seated next to the kitchen door or by the toilet vent stacks. If they go totally non-smoking statewide, the man will never take me out to eat again. Or out for a drink again (while I can't drink, he can and I enjoy chatting with friends and generally havign a nice evening.) My dad is of the same mindset. He just refuses to go out to eat period. My mom goes out alone and is terribly depressed over the whole thing. They haven't done anything social together in almost 18 months because of the smoking issue.

I don't care for the way legislators are forcing people not to do things they have a right to do. It is causing friction and unhappiness.

[okelle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sounds more like a regal decree.

It's good to be the king. Mayor, not so much ;-)

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

I take your point.

[chaneen.livejournal.com]

While I can totally understand why it was repealed, I could never understand why most of the press I saw around the time the ban was enacted was bar owners bitching about it. From my understanding, it only applied to restaurants, and bars that gained a certain percentage of their income from food. So, a restaurant with a bar in it would have to uphold the ban, but a plain old bar that only served drinks and maybe appetizers wouldn't.

All I know is that I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, and most of the restaurants in downtown Scranton that allow smoking don't segregate the smokers/non-smokers enough so they reek of smoke everywhere. I can't eat in any of these places without getting a splitting headache afterwards. It was nice to be able to go places downtown, but honestly, there are tons of restaurants around, so I guess I just won't eat downtown anymore. *mourns The Banshee*

Hopefully they'll get their act together and have this (statewide or in Scranton, whichever) as a referendum on the ballot within a couple of elections.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Well, God knows I'm all the way up in the middle of nowhere most of the time, so the only time it really affects me personally is when I go out with my buddies from work who all smoke. And instead of dealing with trying to find a place where they could smoke in Scranton they usually decided not to bother and we'd go somewhere on the other side of the highway or go hang at Idle Hour.

The only time smoke really bugs me is if I'm sitting right next to someone who's smoking in an enclosed space. So if I'm in a bar I'm fine and yet if I'm in a car with the windows rolled up and my friend's smoking I'm practically hocking up a lung.

The thing is I'd vote for the ban, too. I don't care if there is one but I wouldn't mind avoiding walking into a cloud of smoke everywhere I go around here.

Mostly I'm just glad my coworkers may shut up about the damn thing for a while.