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02/11/2007
Smoke-free debate heating up in TC
Union Street Station cook Gabe Lewis prepares lunch for patrons Friday afternoon in Traverse City. Union Street Station designates a small section of the bar near the kitchen as “No Smoking.” TRAVERSE CITY — The downtown watering hole where Matt Hamburg tends bar offers patrons a familiar choice: smoking or not. Many elected officials will grapple with that same question as smoke-free supporters gather steam on proposed state legislation to ban smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars. Hamburg believes nixing nicotine likely should be best left to businesses, but wonders how many voluntarily would stub out cigarettes. "It seems to be sort of a craze sweeping the nation,” he said of the smoke-free movement. "It seems they are doing OK, why not hop on that bandwagon?” Traverse City commissioners don't often lunge into the latest Lansing hullabaloo, but Mayor Linda Smyka last week sent a letter to legislators and Gov. Jennifer Granholm. In it, commissioners cited dangers of secondhand smoke and urged support for local control over smoking in bars and restaurants. "I think it's great that the commission is being proactive instead of reactive; of course, others will see it as meddling,” said Commissioner Deni Scrudato. State law allows local governments to enact smoke-free workplace ordinances but exempts bars and restaurants from bans. City commissioners are mulling such a step, but told legislators they want the option to snuff smoking in the establishments where the "vast majority” of secondhand smoke is inhaled. The commission did not ask for a statewide ban, called for in a bill introduced last month in the capital. "I don't know how successful the state legislation might be. It just seemed that it might be more palatable at a local level,” Smyka said. The commission's alternative does not appeal to the city's hometown legislators. Rep. Howard Walker and Sen. Jason Allen, both Republicans, think government should butt out when it comes to smoking bans. "Philosophically, I don't believe in the government mandate on how you have to run your business, and, therefore, I would be uncomfortable and wouldn't necessarily want to help facilitate it,” Walker said. Allen finds local control of smoking more acceptable than statewide action, but thinks a better solution is to provide tax incentives to businesses that agree to post no-smoking signs. He's working on such a bill, said legislative director Joe Agostinelli. Smoking ban opponents, such as the Michigan Restaurant Association, have contributed money to both Allen and Walker. Tobacco companies and related interests gave Allen's political accounts at least $5,000 in recent years. Granholm supports a statewide workplace smoking ban that includes restaurants and bars, said spokeswoman Liz Boyd. Legislation to that effect is sponsored by Sen. Ray Basham, a Taylor Democrat, who's a longtime crusader for the smoke-free cause. "We are like the smoking mitten,” he said. "Every state around us is smoke-free.” Basham believes "uniform” smoking laws across the state is the appropriate way to proceed. Allowing local control over restaurant and bar smoking is a "patch-work” approach and could pit restaurants located in cities with different smoking ordinances against one another, he said. Local tobacco opponents are encouraged by the recent smoke-free interest from the city. Bonnie Willings said a statewide workplace ban would be "nice.” "But, in the meantime, it serves everybody well to do it area-by-area so we can have it for at least our local population,” she said. "When it affects the entire state, that is good for everybody, but we just can't wait.” The Traverse City area has 146 smoke-free eateries, according to a count from Marx Cooper, director of Michigan Citizens for SmokeFree Air. That places the city second in the state to Grand Rapids in the number of no-smoking spots. Sara Klebba, of Acme, prefers smoke-free restaurants and says she doesn't go bowling anymore because of the smell. She and a few patrons at Mackinaw Brewing Co. lit up a lively smoking debate on a recent weekday. Smokers' habits should not be "an imposition to anyone else,” Klebba said. She believes bans would have only a "short-term effect” on restaurant and bar business. "It's working in other cities across the U.S.,” Klebba said. Such talk doesn't sit well with Glenn Moser, who sat a few chairs away from Klebba. "When you go into a bar, it's a place to get away and relax and do all of the little vices,” said the non-smoker from Traverse City. "I don't think somebody should tell us what to do and what not to do,” Moser said. At Ciao Bella, one of the city's smoke-free restaurants, manager Donovan Miske doesn't mix cigarettes with cuisine. "I don't really want to get the risk of getting some poison tossed my way,” he said. But businesses, not government, should make the choice to extinguish smoke, he believes. "We are in the land of the free here; especially, in the state that Michigan is in now, we should not be worrying about such things,” Miske said. Back at the brew pub, Hamburg said he would expect customer complaints if smoking was prohibited, but he'd like to see it happen. "There would be a backlash, but I couldn't say how big it would be,” he said. "I don't think it would hurt business at all. We've still got great beer.”
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