Council refuses to change course
In a last-gasp effort to return smoking to Madison bars, the City Council came up with no more opposition to the ban than when it originally voted to enact it.
Just five council members voted Tuesday night to overturn the smoke-free ordinance that went into effect Friday. Originally approved on a 15-5 vote, the new law prohibits tobacco use in all bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and other businesses open to the public.
Much of the public hearing before the vote rehashed the arguments that have been going on for the last few years, whether the law will hurt business and what government’s role should be.
Ald. Austin King, who represents a student district, said that he had a tough time voting for the ban when it originally passed but now has gotten more compliments about it than any other action the city has taken.
“They are in love with this thing,” King said, telling how his constituents have come out of bars and bragged to him how their clothes still smell like laundry detergent.
Ald. Jed Sanborn, who represents part of the far west side, proposed repealing the smoking ban. Elected last April, he was not a member of the council when it enacted the tobacco-free ordinance. He said that he was against the law because he believed it would harm business in the short term and set a bad precedent for further regulation.
“Our freedoms are precious,” he said. “If the sake of health is all we need to ban activities … anything can be a health issue.”
But others said that the new law is consistent with decades of reforms intended to protect workers from occupational hazards, and smoking has not truly been banned — as when some compare the law to prohibition — it has just been moved outdoors or to private residences.
“I remember as a child when my dad could smoke at movie theaters,” Lisa Subeck, a west side resident who ran against Sanborn last spring, said at the public hearing. “This is an issue of the rights of workers.”
She said that, based on other areas where tighter smoking rules have taken effect, the economic effect is positive. Just as movie theaters have not gone out of business, she said she doubted that the bars would suffer.
“While some might flee, there will be others who will flock,” she predicted of the customer base.
Originaly written By Lee Sensenbrenner
