The following about a possalbe smoking ban for the county comes from http://almostontherange.blogspot.com. We here at Duluth Politics will stay on top of this.
Smoking ban?
Rumor has it that the smoking ban Commissioner Steve O'Neil is proposing for all of St. Louis County has no shot of passing. Looks like the citizens on the range will still be able to enjoy a cigarette with their dinner at bars and restaurants.
If commissioner O'Neil does do this we are in trouble. We can not allow this to pass. The county is already in trouble if a smoking ban is in place many business will go out of business or lose a lot and have to lay or workers.
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6 comments:
It sounds like you are a little uninformed on the economic impact of smoking bans in Minnesota.
On Dec. 6, 2005, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press published its own, detailed look at the Twin Cities hospitality industry since the local bans began in March 2005.
The headline says it all: "Smoking ban fears prove unfounded."
Liquor and food sales actually increased since the ban, according to tax records. More new places opened than closed, and hospitality industry unemploment claims are lower in nonsmoking cities/counties than in smoking parts of the TC metro.
If you're thinking that's fine for Minneapolis and Hennepin County, but it won't work in Duluth and St. Louis County...
Well, it already is. We have seen the tax data from Duluth. The hospitality industry has seen overall growth, but business that have gone smokefree have higher sales than those that are still blue with secondhand smoke.
See our blog for more.
Bob Moffitt
Communications Director
American Lung Association of MN
I have been to your blog and I am not uninformed at all. I know numbers of many diffent studies and I will stand by and let even one business go out of business because of a smoking ban.
Many Duluth business have strogled sence ours has been in place and still do. Some others have seen the same amount of business but no one has had more because of it.
By the way your stament on almost on the range blog is common of your side.
Can you cite one of the studies that support your claim that the smoking ban has hurt business?
My wife and I went to Ireland last summer. They have a nation wide smoking ban, and yet the pubs still seem to be doing quite well. It is so nice not having to put up with second hand smoke. What we need is a nation wide smoking ban here in America.
Smokers have no right to smoke in public places!
Smokers have the right to smoke in a "public place". Here is why, there is no such thing as a public place unless you are talking about a park or such. Why do I say this any business is still private they have the right to allow anyone not allow anyone they want too. They also should and in most place do have the right to say weather they allow smoking or not.
The business should have every right to allow or not allow smoking if a business choices not to allow smoking more power to them but they should not be told by goverment that they can't allow smoking.
This has nothing to do with public safty but everything to do with rights.
Yup...you could argue that a business has the right to "choose" to allow smoking as they are a "private" business. But..their business depends on the PUBLIC to come in for their PRODUCT. Is their product to be a smoking room? Well, if so then so be it. But if they are a restaurant or bar why should they expect to stay open if they choose to offend the majority of potential customers? I have never understood the logic of a business owner who would pander to less customers because they think that is the only business they will attract. It makes absolutly no business sense when NON smokers are now the majority.
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