By BYRON ROHRIG , Evansville Courier & Press staff writer
blrohrig@evansville.net
City Council Attorney John Hamilton coincidentally caught a news report Tuesday about a California municipality contemplating a law to ban outdoor smoking.
It was the day after City Councilman Steve Bagbey, D-2nd Ward, promised to introduce by late April a law banning or restricting smoking in city bars, restaurants and workplaces.
Banning outdoor smoking, Hamilton emphasized during an interview in his West Side office, is not a provision of any ordinances he has been reviewing, seeking models for drafting the ordinance Bagbey hopes to have signed into law in late spring. It would restrict indoor smoking in Evansville workplaces and business establishments.
No draft exists now, Hamilton said. He, Bagbey and Republican Councilwoman Angela Koehler Walden plan to meet next week to start putting that together. But if a local law is shaped heavily by consensus among measures passed in the Southern Indiana cities of Jeffersonville, Columbus, Bloomington, in at least three suburban Indianapolis locations and in Lexington, Ky., there are some features you can expect.
First, smoking could be banned in all establishments that serve alcohol except for those that restrict admittance to people at least 21. Smoking would be outlawed in a combination bar and restaurant, or the traditional Indiana tavern with a "family room."
Smoking likely would be banned in all indoor locations in all workplaces.
Exempted from smoking restrictions would be private residences, some hotel and motel rooms (though the number of "smoking" rooms, Hamilton said, frequently are capped at around 25 percent), retail tobacco stores, nonprofit private clubs and personal vehicles, as well as company vehicles when occupied only by a smoker or smokers. The growing body of data on dangers of second-hand smoke and reducing risks to nonsmokers - especially underage smokers - is driving the local moves to restrict lighting up in public, Hamilton said. Bagbey said Monday his goals are to protect children and "to make sure we don't put anyone out of business."
Just a short stroll from Hamilton's office, Dave Reitz sat on a barstool at Gerst Haus, expressing support for smoking restrictions in buildings "where people have to go." But Reitz, who manages Gerst Haus and two strictly over-21 establishments on West Franklin Street, added, "I don't think the government should have the right to tell us what to do."
Located in the former Heldt and Voelker Hardware store, Gerst Haus would be turned into a nonsmoking establishment if Evansville's ordinance becomes law. The bar is partitioned, but is still situated in the same expansive, high-ceilinged room as the restaurant where people of all ages are welcome.
Reitz said business - not government - should dictate smoking preferences: "Smoking along Franklin Street in my 20 years in the business has diminished 50 percent. We don't need government."
A reformed smoker (he quit four years ago after puffing for 30 years), Reitz insisted he is not for smoking, "but for the right to smoke." He said 87 percent of Gerst employees smoke (they are required to do so outside or in a break room), and that he would be happier if they didn't. He figures he gets 10 percent less work time out of smokers. "So we're not for smoking, because smokers take more breaks," he said. Reitz said he gets few complaints from nonsmokers. He said the business is well ventilated and equipped with nine ceiling fans.
The ordinances Hamilton is reviewing take a variety of approaches to assigning responsibility for enforcement. Some cities charge the executive with responsibility for designating an enforcing agency, while others single out the fire department, the health department, the building commissioners or inspectors.
The toughest ordinances he has seen, Hamilton said, are from Bloomington and Lexington, Ky. "They prohibit smoking in bars, period," he said. From talking with officials from the nonsmoking cities, Hamilton said he is prepared for lots of opposition from those who operate bars and restaurants. But he said he does not expect a legal challenge. "I hope to draft an ordinance that's not subject to any challenges."