Sandy Cullen Wisconsin State Journal
In the words of Madison City Council member Lauren Cnare, “It’s the vampire of ordinances.”
“It keeps coming back to life,” Cnare said of the city’s new smoking ban. “It’s a really, really ugly issue.”
With many Madison bars and bowling alleys feeling the sting of lost business, at least one City Council member has had a change of heart about his support for the ban.
“I now believe that the council was a bit overzealous,” said council member Santiago Rosas.
Rosas, who represents the 17th District, voted for the ban, which went into effect July 1. But after abstaining from a vote to repeal the law on July 5, Rosas said he would now join five other council members who voted to rescind the ban.
Council member Judy Compton, 16th District, who was absent for the July 5 vote, also said she is “absolutely” in favor of repealing the law that bans smoking in all workplaces.
“This is a business decision that the government has no business getting involved in,” Compton said, adding that people can choose whether they want to work or to patronize establishments that allow smoking.
Council member Isadore Knox Jr., who also abstained from the July 5 vote, said he would be willing to consider a compromise that protected workers’ health as well as the rights of non-smokers, such as allowing specially ventilated areas for smoking, which employees did not have to enter.
Now, with possibly eight of the 11 votes needed to alter the law, a push is on to convince a few more council members to support repealing or changing one of Wisconsin’s most restrictive smoking bans.
“I support the fact that it needs to be brought back for repeal,” Compton said, adding, “I do think we’ll see it in the fall for sure.”
Council member Paul Skidmore, 9th District, who is opposed to the ban, also predicts that a serious effort to repeal it ban within two to four months.
Rosas said he believes council members did not fully understand the negative implications for business, especially bars and restaurants on the city’s East Side.
Since the ban went into effect, Rosas said he has visited several bars in his district, as well as establishments in other parts of the city, and has seen the negative impact first-hand.
Knox said he planned to drop into bars along Regent Street in his 13th District over the weekend to see how they are faring and talk with patrons.
Rosas said he believes more data need to be collected on how the ban is affecting businesses and what they will do if revenues continue to fall short.
Former council member Dorothy Borchardt, who has been surveying business owners, recently gave council members a list of about 40 establishments whose operators say business was down from 30 to 60 percent in the first two weeks of the ban compared to the same time last year.
Borchardt wasn’t immediately available to describe her survey method, including how she chose the bars from which she obtained information.
Hardest hit, according to the survey, was the bowling alley Dream Lanes, in Cnare’s District 3.
Unlike bar patrons, who can easily walk outside to have a cigarette, Cnare said, you can’t run out for a smoke in bowling shoes because if they get wet, injuries can occur on the lanes. •
Settle this with a vote?
Despite the ban’s apparent negative economic impact, Cnare and other council members are committed to standing behind it.
When the ordinance came back to life for a repeal vote, Cnare said she went back to residents in her district and found most supported keeping the smoking ban in its current form.
“There’s probably some merit to putting this to rest by a compromise,” Cnare said, adding that ultimately, it could take a referendum to put the issue to rest. “I think it would show people don’t want smoking in bars.”
But if a majority of city residents don’t want smoking allowed in bars, they don’t seem to be flocking to the smoke- free establishments, Cnare said.
Janet Piraino, chief of staff to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said the mayor is concerned about how the ban is impacting businesses. “Any time businesses are struggling in Madison, believe me, they have his attention,” she said.
But Piraino said that after experiencing an initial drop, business picked back up at establishments in other cities that have enacted smoking bans.
“I think it’s really too early to talk about changing things until we know how it’s going to shake out,” she said. •
Other negatives
The smoking ban has brought other negatives, some of the ban’s supporters admit.
“A lot of the fears I had about litter have come to pass, unfortunately,” said council member Austin King, District 8, who still backs the ban.
Council member Mike Verveer, whose District 4 encompasses much of Downtown, including the State Street entertainment district, predicts it’s just a matter of time before trouble erupts involving individuals who are smoking outside of bars where they have been drinking.
“Alcohol and testosterone don’t mix,” said Verveer, who opposes the ban.
Not everyone is skeptical.
“I am amazed that with the number of cities, villages, states and counties that have now passed smoking bans, that this still continues to be so contentious,” said council member Robbie Webber, District 5. “Madison is hardly in the forefront on smoke-free workplaces. It has worked all over the country, and it can work here.”
