zahntech said:
like I said ..People fear change...the bar/restaurant/bowling alley owners obviously had no idea that the ban would be good for them otherwise they would have supported it...they are looking pretty dumb now....
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Spokane Spokesman Review
Bars say business gone with smoke
Lobbyist tells owners not to expect much from OlympiaKevin Graman
Staff writer
January 27, 2006
Amee Anderson came to Spokane all the way from Dayton, Wash., hoping there was some way to bring customers back to the Lonesome Dove.
The bar she co-owns with her father-in-law has fallen on hard times, since Initiative 901 banned smoking in public places and within 25 feet of doors and windows.
"Compared to last year, it's about half," she said of her clientele. "There may be 20 people in, and all but four are outside smoking. It's like the majority of business is going outside."
More than two dozen bar owners and managers gathered Thursday afternoon at P.J.'s Bar & Grill on North Monroe to bemoan the effect Washington's new clean indoor air law is having on their trade and to hear whether there was any hope the law will be modified this legislative session.
They didn't like what Dave Wilkinson, of the lobbying group Hospitality Partners, had to tell them. With less than a week to introduce non-appropriations legislation, there are a couple of bills in the works, he said.
Their chances of passage? Slim to none.
"The legislators are scared to come out for any kind of modification because all of them (in the House) face re-election next year," Wilkinson said.
One such measure, HB 2502, granting bar owners a waiver if they can prove the ban has caused them a 10 percent loss to their business over 30 days, was going nowhere faster than the other, HB 1559, allowing smoking rooms, provided they are vented to the outside.
Washington's smoking ban leads puffers to Idaho
Clarkston bars worry law might shut them down
The Associated Press
Edition Date: 01-21-2006CLARKSTON, Wash. — Washington smokers facing a ban on lighting up in bars and restaurants are taking their habit — and money — to Idaho.
"I've had regular clientele tell me right to my face they're going to Idaho to smoke," Tony Salerno, owner of Hogan's in Clarkston, told the Lewiston Tribune.
Washington voters approved Initiative 901 in November, which bans smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and air intakes of public places and workplaces. It took effect Dec. 8.
That has left some establishments in Washington near the Idaho border having to compete with bars and restaurants in Idaho that allow smoking.
Salerno measured out a spot where people could stand and smoke, but that caused the sidewalk to be littered with cigarette butts and garbage. He said lunch and dinner crowds haven't increased enough to replace patrons that went to Idaho. Now he's trying to bring in more customers with music on additional nights.
"Trying to survive on one good night out of six isn't going to cut it," he said.
Smitty's Barrel had to let go of four employees, said manager Kelleigh Fowler.
"We're almost going out of business, it's been so bad," she said. "Our biggest money night is New Year's Eve, and we had 10 people in here and did less than $300 in business from opening to close."
I just don't want to be inhaling the crap and letting it get all over my body and have it burn my eyes. Puff away in your car or your house....just don't throw your bloody butts on the sidewalk or on the freeway. 
