(no subject)

[lollardfish]

Any clue who I write to about the Minneapolis smoking ban? I spent money in bars last weekend in a Minneapolis bar /because/ it was smoke-free. Now the Hennepin Cnty Commission has temporarily reduced the ban to only apply to places that sell more food than liquor. Time to complain.

EDIT: After further review, while it seems clear that some bars have been hurt and that the demographic of bar use has changed (where people go, etc.), overall, the hospitality industry has remained pretty stable. So ... I feel bad for bars being hurt. My stance remains.

Comments

[mrsmodew.livejournal.com]

Check the blue pages in the phone book.

Some of us really don't mind the ban being lifted from bars. ;)

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

You should stop smoking. It's lethal. (I bug my friends once a year or so).

[mrsmodew.livejournal.com]

duh. Smoking and breathing the crap that comes from cars during my commute are both lethal.

Anyway, what I want to see is what the effects of auto emissions and various other environmental air borne contaminates have in relation to lung cancer (and asthma and other lung issues). Funny, an SUV emits more particulates and carcinogens with one tank of gas than I do in an entire year. But, please, blame the smokers and "2nd hand smoke", not the oil industry. :)

I wish I could post when not at work so as to put together a more coherant paragraph.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

See! See! (he says excitedly).

I totally agree with what you're talking about here. The thing, though, is not to let up on secondhand smoke, which /is/ a health hazard, but to also work on other health hazards that degrade air quality.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

It might do more good to write to the bars where you spent the money.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I am going to do that too. But ultimately the Commission voted 4-3. Those 4 need to be identified, lobbied, and ultimately run against.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Peter MacLaughlin was just interviewed on KFAI about it. He voted against the ban, but says that 3,000,000 Minnesotans live in places where they are subjected to second-hand smoke in restaurants, and he aims to make the ban statewide.

Which is fine, but a) he's a Hennepin County Commissioner, just what influence does he think he has over at the Leg, and 2) how does recinding the ban in Hennepin County address that?

K.

[groomporter.livejournal.com]

I've been waiting for someone to approach this issue from the A.D.A. angle. People with severe asthma, or emphysema are unfairly excluded from seeing certain live performances, or eating in some establishments due to the air quality in the building. A reasonable accommodation to these disabled persons, and other people who are sensitive to smoke would seem to be to keep the smoking elsewhere.

Therefore, my compromise is a ban on smoking in venues where they serve food, or hold live performances. Bars where the only attraction is drinking would be excluded. (Of course, state-wide, so it evens the competition between cities.)

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

It's a tough issue. I yield to no one in my loathing for second-hand smoke, but Minneapolis bars that I like are going under because of this. I wish they'd make a uniform ban for the State.

Yeah, I guess that does make me some sort of totalitarian Nazi. Tough. Your right to smoke ends where my nostrils begin.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

What bars. Last figures I saw showed Mpls bars on the uptick. Both sides are skewing figures to suit their needs. And yes, it should be state-wide, oh, but then Wisconsin will be smoking ...

Someone has to lead. Let it be my city.

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

Molly Quinn's is having a really tough time. They have had to drastically cut their hours, and they may not make it through the end of the year. It's not a side I'm talking about, it's a place where my friends like to hang out. (Also the host of Riverfolk's release party, FWIW).

I just wish more would follow faster.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Molly Quinn's is a nice place. It's run by nice people. It's not a very good bar, IMO. It looks like an Embers with a wierd door (cause it is an Embers with a wierd door). In a town with a lot of good pubs, Molly Quinn's has a lot more troubles than a smoking ban.

[pied-piper70.livejournal.com]

There have been five bars that have gone under over the past six months, mostly downtown...no, I can't name them all but that's the figure...And with Bloomington's smoking ban, the whole third floor of the MoA, which used to be packed on the weekends, is now mostly quiet and most of the bars there have closed as well...

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

As my lovely husband points out; If the bar needs smoking to keep it going they have bigger problems.

Smokers need to get over it or stay the hell home. But that's just MNSHO.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see the MoA being in real trouble.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I really would like to know which bars.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

WCCO quotes 35 bars closed. (The story also mentions Molly Quinn's.) The PiPresssays the number is 11.

OK, and I am done violating my rule of not answer questions on LJ that one can google in under 5 minutes.

K. [but I was curious, too]

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Har. Good rule. But laziness is easy!

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

The real question is what would close that wouldn't otherwise close. The Bar business is tenuous anyway.

[pied-piper70.livejournal.com]

Really, I blame Randy Kelly...If that nutjob actually had a brain and voted FOR the ban in St. Paul, I'll bet you the bar closings would've been minimized...And THAT'S why I voted him out this year...

And for the record, I also agree with the ban...from a health standpoint as well as from a performance standpoint...Besides, I LIKE coming home from dancing NOT smelling all stinking...

[groomporter.livejournal.com]

Nah, not a Nazi.
Society has a right to restrict nuisance behavior
We have every legal right to listen to (shudder) Slim Witman at 3 a.m...
We have every legal right to watch gory, mad slasher films while eating Thanksgiving dinner...

-but I don't have the right to inflict those activities upon the senses of my neighbors. Our culture is increasingly looking at smoking as a nuisance behavior.

[msgillian.livejournal.com]

Check here

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Heh. Overloaded.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

No individual businesses are listed on the county web site.

K.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I can see Porters having real trouble. There is a whole set of bars dependent on chain drinking and smoking. Rough on them, I'm sure.