Burnt Orange Report

Anybody know who I can contact to sign the petition?

If you run into me on campus, I have sheets. There is one on my door in Blanton. Otherwise, Glen Maxey over on 512 E Riverside will have them. Or if you wander around the UT Campus area monday, I'll bet there are people out.

Great...

As I understood it smokers represented the minority in Austin as well as the US.

Yet business owners are forking over thousands for the right to provide goods and services to smokers.

Are smokers a better demographic for restaraunts and bars? If so, and if their licensing fees are feeding city coffers what's the beef?

Surely if more than 50% of the city would vote to ban smoking then at least 50% of the city's establisments will provide a safe haven for these folks to enjoy a night out?

Or could it be that non smokers just don't drop the coin in restaraunts and bars that smokers do?

The fact is that there are different kinds of people in the world and different kinds of bars. Some bars happen to cater to a predominantly smoking crowd, as much as 90%. It would be politically incorrect to assume that because the majority of Americans are nonsmokers, there should be nowhere to cater to the minority who prefer to smoke and socialize. Democracy should enable diverse people to live in harmony.

Think also about this, if the majority of people are nonsmokers, why haven't they opened bars and restaurants to cater to the nonsmoking majority? It can't be that only smoke hungry libertarians have that entrepreneurial spirit. The most notable voluntarily nonsmoking bar to open in Austin was the Acoustic Cafe on Sixth Street which closed within 3 months. Currently, Mean Eyed Cat and Opal Divine's are smokefree inside with smoking on their patios. (Few bars and restaurants have patios, by the way.)

But it is important to note that there is a bar culture that is predominantly supported by people who associate smoking with their experience. People who don't consider themselves smokers may smoke the occasional cigar or cigarette while out on the town. And many avowed smokers go out to avoid smoking in their homes or around their children or spouses. The majority of people in most bars are at least occasional smokers. People who frequent bars know that. And it is true that nonsmokers do drop less coin at bars and restaurants. Smokers tend to linger.

And finally, it should be noted that, statistically, people working or visiting smoking venues make a free choice. There are 46,000 businesses in Austin, and over 99% of them are smokefree. There are over 2000 restaurants in Austin, and less than a dozen offer smoking sections (which, by the way, must be enclosed from the nonsmoking areas and separately ventilated in a manner to keep any smoke from entering the nonsmoking sections.) There are over 550 mixed beverage permits in Austin, and 200 bars allow smoking. No one under 18 is allowed anywhere that smoking is permitted. The reality does reflect that more places are available exclusively for the safety of nonsmokers and children than the freedom of smokers.

In reference to the idea that businesses are forking over thousands for the right to provide goods and services to smokers, it would be justified, if true. It costs $300 per year to attain a smoking permit under Austin's current smoking ban. The two local anti-ban coalitions, Keep Austin Free PAC and Save Austin Jobs Alliance, have raised some money from less than 20 local business owners, employees and citizens. Neither receive money from tobacco companies. Meanwhile, Onward Austin is rumored to have have received upwards of $500,000 from the American Cancer Society to push this ban into the last 211 smoking venues in this town. Petitioners were paid $9 an hour to collect signatures. They were not all concerned volunteers as we would be led to believe. They had training and supervisers. The move to ban smoking in public places is hardly a grassroots campaign. Rather, it is big business. Read above, Glen Maxey is their campaign manager and he is not free. He offered to pay $1 per signature when he took over the job. Makes you wonder what he must be getting paid.

But hopefully, what will prevail is the right for diverse people to open diverse businesses, employing diverse staff, catering to diverse customers. A few of these people may wish to participate in a legal activity in the presence of one another. That's what happens now and the people who are going to these diverse places are showing with their choices and their pocketbooks that they don't really mind the status quo.

The fact is that there are different kinds of people in the world and different kinds of bars. Some bars happen to cater to a predominantly smoking crowd, as much as 90%. It would be politically incorrect to assume that because the majority of Americans are nonsmokers, there should be nowhere to cater to the minority who prefer to smoke and socialize. Democracy should enable diverse people to live in harmony.

Think also about this, if the majority of people are nonsmokers, why haven't they opened bars and restaurants to cater to the nonsmoking majority? It can't be that only smoke hungry libertarians have that entrepreneurial spirit. The most notable voluntarily nonsmoking bar to open in Austin was the Acoustic Cafe on Sixth Street which closed within 3 months. Currently, Mean Eyed Cat and Opal Divine's are smokefree inside with smoking on their patios. (Few bars and restaurants have patios, by the way.)

But it is important to note that there is a bar culture that is predominantly supported by people who associate smoking with their experience. People who don't consider themselves smokers may smoke the occasional cigar or cigarette while out on the town. And many avowed smokers go out to avoid smoking in their homes or around their children or spouses. The majority of people in most bars are at least occasional smokers. People who frequent bars know that. And it is true that nonsmokers do drop less coin at bars and restaurants. Smokers tend to linger.

And finally, it should be noted that, statistically, people working or visiting smoking venues make a free choice. There are 46,000 businesses in Austin, and over 99% of them are smokefree. There are over 2000 restaurants in Austin, and less than a dozen offer smoking sections (which, by the way, must be enclosed from the nonsmoking areas and separately ventilated in a manner to keep any smoke from entering the nonsmoking sections.) There are over 550 mixed beverage permits in Austin, and 200 bars allow smoking. No one under 18 is allowed anywhere that smoking is permitted. The reality does reflect that more places are available exclusively for the safety of nonsmokers and children than the freedom of smokers.

In reference to the idea that businesses are forking over thousands for the right to provide goods and services to smokers, it would be justified, if true. It costs $300 per year to attain a smoking permit under Austin's current smoking ban. The two local anti-ban coalitions, Keep Austin Free PAC and Save Austin Jobs Alliance, have raised some money from less than 20 local business owners, employees and citizens. Neither receive money from tobacco companies. Meanwhile, Onward Austin is rumored to have have received upwards of $500,000 from the American Cancer Society to push this ban into the last 211 smoking venues in this town. Petitioners were paid $9 an hour to collect signatures. They were not all concerned volunteers as we would be led to believe. They had training and supervisers. The move to ban smoking in public places is hardly a grassroots campaign. Rather, it is big business. Read above, Glen Maxey is their campaign manager and he is not free. He offered to pay $1 per signature when he took over the job. Makes you wonder what he must be getting paid.

But hopefully, what will prevail is the right for diverse people to open diverse businesses, employing diverse staff, catering to diverse customers. A few of these people may wish to participate in a legal activity in the presence of one another. That's what happens now and the people who are going to these diverse places are showing with their choices and their pocketbooks that they don't really mind the status quo.

Randall,

The obvious counter to your libertarian argument is that the only smoke-free bars in the area are on the UT campus (by governmental fiat). One would expect that since the market has 'shown' that nobody 'wants' a non-smoking bar and the Cactus is only smoke-free because of the government, that the Cactus would be having trouble filling their seats.

Right?

Well, they're not. There's clearly a HUGE unfilled demand for non-smoking music-and-drinking venues out there. Just like how, ten years ago (when EVERY restaurant had a smoking section), the market was failing to provide non-smoking dining for the majority of patrons (who wanted it), there are other reasons besides libertarian arguments with all the complexity of grade school.