City officials pursue restaurant smoking ban
Officials discuss idea of regional smoking ban in restaurants
?By DEBBIE MESSINA, The Virginian-Pilot
August 23, 2007
A smoking ban in restaurants and bars would be more acceptable if it applied statewide or even area wide, several City Council members said after a meeting Wednesday with business owners to discuss Norfolk’s proposed ban.
Since efforts to establish a statewide prohibition have failed in the General Assembly in recent years, some council members are starting to think more regionally.
“We need to talk to other municipalities and bring them in,” said Vice Mayor Anthony Burfoot. “I don’t think it should be our decision alone at this point, which could handicap businesses in Norfolk.”
Councilman Barclay C. Winn suggested that the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, the regional planning body, could be a conduit for a regional discussion.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf said her council has not discussed a smoking ban but added that she may bring it before the group.
“If we do it, perhaps it’s wise to look at doing it regionally so no one would be put at a competitive disadvantage,” she said.
Norfolk Councilwoman Theresa Whibley has proposed a smoking ban for restaurants, bars and lounges in Norfolk.
Most business owners who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting opposed the idea, fearing it would chase customers and their wallets out of Norfolk to thriving restaurant districts in neighboring Virginia Beach and Portsmouth.
“Plain and simple, it would be an economic disadvantage,” said Baxter Simmons, who owns two downtown restaurants.
“It’s going to hurt a lot of us,” said Ronnie Boone, who owns seven Norfolk eating and drinking establishments, including one that he considers “the smokiest bar in town.”
Nancy Johnson, an assistant city manager, countered that a surgeon general’s report concluded that smoking bans do not have an adverse economic impact.
Sture Sigfred, a retired physician and owner of several downtown restaurants, supports the ban, saying he’s seen too many patients suffer health problems from smoking and second hand smoke.
Ideally, though, some Norfolk council members would prefer a statewide policy.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine plans to put the issue before the General Assembly this winter and held a public hearing Tuesday in Richmond seeking input on how to define a restaurant – an issue that doomed last session’s proposed legislation.
“I don’t know if we should move forward with this, or give the General Assembly another try, then move forward with this,” said Councilman Don Williams.
“I think we need to do a little more homework – it’s not ready to bring to the council now,” Winn said.
Councilman W. Randy Wright said he’s undecided.
Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C., have outlawed smoking in restaurants. Alexandria voted to ban smoking starting next year.
In an advisory opinion last month, Attorney General Bob McDonnell declared that localities cannot ban smoking.
Whibley, a physician, is not wavering. She has cited an American Cancer Society report that calls exposure to second hand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death.
She hopes to put the issue to a vote as early as mid-October.
“Change is tough, especially when it’s your livelihood; it’s scary,” Whibley said. “But I need to be true to myself. This is important.”
No more choking on smoking ban
August 4, 2007
It made sense last fall for Norfolk to delay a restaurant smoking ban to give the General Assembly time to fashion a statewide solution. With lawmakers now mired in an unyielding stalemate, there’s no reason to show any more deference. The council ought to act on its good instincts about the noxious consequences of secondhand smoke in its eateries.
Councilwoman Theresa Whibley, the restaurant ban’s local champion, says that her constituents are impatient for action. “I am constantly reminded by people everywhere I go to keep going on this,” Whibley told staff writer Debbie Messina this week. “I am tired of this.”
She better take a nap; it will be a long time before the legislature gets in step with the mounting pile of scientific, political and even economic arguments favoring a ban.
The medical evidence is so undeniable, and popular support so universal, that the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association made an important symbolic point by testifying for the ban – for all the good it did. Gov. Tim Kaine and the state Senate are at an impasse with the House of Delegates that shows no signs of unwinding. To make matters worse, the ban’s chief architect, Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke, was knocked out of his job in the Republican primary.
Because there’s so little chance that Republican rule of the House will change in the November general elections, a statewide edict is a long shot in 2008. As a result, political pressure is building for local remedies, a notion that always runs afoul of Virginia’s Dillon Rule. There’s no explicit language in the state code giving cities the power to enact smoking bans, and Attorney General Bob McDonnell has issued an advisory opinion hostile to the notion of local officials deciding for themselves.
But that hasn’t stopped Alexandria from finding the authority to do it in its zoning and building codes. Similarly, Norfolk City Attorney Bernard Pishko has found plenty of implied powers to protect public health in the city charter, and in the 1988 state Indoor Clean Air Act.
So, why delay?
If it enacts a ban, Norfolk might face a lawsuit challenging its authority. But that’s no reason for timidity. Given the haze enveloping the issue, a fight in court would bring welcome clarity, and perhaps even a popular and precedent-setting victory.
Either way – lawsuit or not – Norfolk benefits from trying to clear the air.
City officials pursue restaurant smoking ban
August 1, 2007
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – Norfolk officials are ignoring a state attorney general’s opinion and moving ahead in their effort to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
August 1, 2007
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) – Norfolk officials are ignoring a state attorney general’s opinion and moving ahead in their effort to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
