Washington Residents Only
Washington Residents Only:
Sign the Petition to The Washington State Legislature
To: The Washington State Legislature
We the Good people of Washington State do hereby exercise our right under the first amendment and petition for a redress of grievance. We petition to strike the infringement upon our rights by I-901.
You the Duly elected representatives of the people have the authority, the power to rectify a terrible wrong, that would be the changes to the RCW from the demands of I-901. We hold that I-901 was passed under false pretense, that the greater truth was withheld from all, that we were never allowed to present the whole truth before the voters. Further that we represent no grave or deadly danger to anyone or anything and we can prove that fact. Greater yet that we have an inalienable right to choose for ourselves, a right protected by the demands and limits within the Constitution.
We petition now our Representatives in Government to have those sections of the RCW so affected by I-901 that in effect banished us from public, from being served by any business, and infringed upon our inalienable right to choose; that they be forever stricken and that our inalienable right to choose be restored, for our businesses, for the people as individuals.
You the Duly elected representatives of the people have the authority, the power to rectify a terrible wrong, that would be the changes to the RCW from the demands of I-901. We hold that I-901 was passed under false pretense, that the greater truth was withheld from all, that we were never allowed to present the whole truth before the voters. Further that we represent no grave or deadly danger to anyone or anything and we can prove that fact. Greater yet that we have an inalienable right to choose for ourselves, a right protected by the demands and limits within the Constitution.
We petition now our Representatives in Government to have those sections of the RCW so affected by I-901 that in effect banished us from public, from being served by any business, and infringed upon our inalienable right to choose; that they be forever stricken and that our inalienable right to choose be restored, for our businesses, for the people as individuals.
Sincerely,
Bar owners feel burn of ban: Taverns see drop in business in wake of smoking ban
December 09, 2006
David A. Grant
David A. Grant
One year after a voter-approved initiative snuffed out tobacco smoking at businesses and private clubs statewide, Washingtonians may be healthier as a population but some tavern owners have felt a pain in their pocketbooks.
Interviews with bar owners and data from state officials suggest that revenue from gambling, alcohol and cigarette sales dipped immediately after the ban took effect but is slowly coming back.
Harder to measure, say public health officials, are the benefits associated with thousands of nonsmoking employees and customers who no longer have to breathe secondhand smoke.
Initiative 901, passed by 63 percent of voters in November 2005, went into effect one year ago today. It banned smoking indoors and within 25 feet of doors and windows, as well as anywhere that employees work.
Restaurant and tavern owners predicted some in the industry could be hit hard by the ban, though backers maintained there would be little long-term economic impact.
While it’s not clear if any tavern went out of business as a direct result of the ban, there’s little doubt it’s had an impact on some establishments.
According to figures released Thursday by the state Department of Revenue, gross business income for bars and taverns dropped 4.2 percent in the first half of 2006, compared with the same period in 2005, even though taxable retail sales on food, drinks and other items were up by 3.7 percent.
Mike Gowrylow, with the Department of Revenue, said the disparity can be attributed to an estimated 20.7 percent drop in gambling revenue for non-Indian casinos statewide, amounting to a $17.5 million decline for the first six months of this year.
“One theory is bars and restaurants may have lost smoking gamblers, but gained other patrons,” Gowrylow noted in an e-mail to the Journal, but added the numbers don’t prove a link between the smoking ban and revenues.
For Teresa McLees, co-owner of the Pied Piper Pub in Kent, however, there’s little doubt.
McLees estimates business dropped 45 percent after the ban started last year and still is down 30 percent, costing her thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
“People don’t want to come in and drink and go out in pouring rain and smoke a cigarette,” said McLees, whose biggest complaint is not the drop in revenue, but the loss of personal choice.
“A lot of my clientele go to the Muckleshoots where they have the freedom to smoke,” she said. “We have lost a lot to the Muckleshoots.”
But Rollin Fatland, a spokesman for the Muckleshoot Tribe, which operates a casino near Auburn, denied that the ban has resulted in more business from smokers looking for a place where they can light up.
“We have not seen any noticeable increase in business that can be attributed to the smoking ban,” said Fatland, noting that the tribe added a smoke-free casino earlier this year.
He said there are no plans to make the entire operation smoke-free and expressed skepticism that state Legislators could impose a smoking ban on Tribal casinos.
That’s what Anthony Anton, CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association, would like to see.
Anton, whose organization represents about 5,000 of the nearly 12,000 restaurants in Washington, said the smoking ban’s impact has been about what he expected. He said about 85 percent of restaurants already were nonsmoking.
“We were worried about losing (smokers) to the tribal casinos,” he said. “If you are a smoker and can drive five minutes up theroad to smoke, you will.
“If we are going to be a smoke-free state we should make sure all establishments are nonsmoking, Tribal and nontribal.”
Doug Caywood, operations manager at Waldo’s, a watering hole in Kirkland, said his revenue dropped less than 10 percent after the ban. Revenue from pull tabs, video games and pool tables dropped dramatically, however.
Though he lost an estimated $20,000 in revenue from a decline in cigarette sales, he’s saving a few hundred bucks in cleaning bills since he no longer has to wash ashtrays or maintain his air filtration system as often.
“There are a lot of positive things and that’s the only way to look at it since there was no choice,” said Caywood, who’s put more emphasis on food to increase that as a percentage of sales. “I think we are bouncing back.”
Sean Erskine, owner of The Pickled Onion in Renton, also is trying to put a positive spin on the ban. He’s spent about $19,000 on new carpets and refinishing furniture — improvements he would not have made before the ban out of concern about cigarette burns.
“At first it was just a lot of bitching and moaning,” said Erskine, who had trouble soon after the ban with customers lighting up indoors. “But this bar is a social mechanism for the neighborhood. People don’t come here to smoke. They come here to socialize.
“And I’m not going to pay 100 bucks (citation) for you to smoke when I have to go out and smoke.”
While the financial impact of the smoking ban is apparent, the impact on public health is less easy to measure.
Roger Valdez, tobacco prevention manager for the county health department, said statistics on the number of smokers are not yet available for this year, but he expects the percentage to continue dropping.
In 2004 about 15 percent of the general population in King County smoked, declining to 13.3 percent in 2005.
“I suspect we’ll see fewer smokers in the future but it’s too early to tell,” Valdez said. “The smoking ban will only add to the momentum of people quitting.”
Valdez doesn’t dispute that some businesses have been hurt by the ban.
“There is always someone who will have an adverse impact. But policies are made to do the best for the most people,” he said. “Generally, smoking bans are no brainers. They improve public health.
“I think Washington state a year down the road can say it’s been a tremendous success.”
Mike O’Sullivan, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society at the organization’s Tacoma office, said that although he doesn’t have any data to prove it, he believes more people are trying to quit smoking as a result of the ban.
“We were expecting more pushback from businesses and especially longtime smokers,” O’Sullivan said. “But there really has been a great acceptance of this.”
For some, maybe, but not all. Teresa McLees said sales have been hit hard at her Pied Piper Pub, which she describes as “mom-and-pop operation.”
“I hope my business will come back,” she said. “We’re holding on just like a bunch of other places.”
