By LARRY THOMAS, Evening News
lthomas@news-tribune.net
JEFFERSONVILLE — Barbara Wilson struggled against the tears that were building in her eyes as she listened to the voice mail on her cell phone.
“He signed it,” she said, bringing an unexpected and abrupt halt to a press conference that had started 20 minutes earlier.
Wilson was referring Jeffersonville Mayor Rob Waiz signing a public smoking ban the City Council approved 4-3 on its final reading Nov. 21.
Wilson, the council’s vice president and sponsor of the ordinance, and others were in the middle of a press conference to encourage Waiz to sign the measure when Wilson heard the mayor’s message.
The ban takes effect 180 days after the ordinance is published in The Evening News. It will prohibit smoking in most places of employment and public places, save bars, private clubs and retail tobacco stores. Hotels and motels can designate 20 percent of their rooms for smokers.
Violators — both individual smokers and the businesses that permit smoking illegally — will be subject to $50 fines. The ordinance does not restrict outdoor smoking.
“I’m just too excited,” said Wilson, who is battling cancer. “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done.”
“I believe we have to look after our children, our workers and our families,” said Waiz, explaining why he signed an ordinance many thought he would veto. “We can’t really ignore the realities of the dangers of second-hand smoke.”
Waiz had been critical of the speed with which the council passed the ordinance and the estimated $155,000 it would cost to enforce it. On Wednesday, Waiz said he has spoken with leaders from Hoosier communities with similar bans and now thinks the enforcement cost, which was provided by Building Commissioner Russ Segraves, was inflated.
Waiz believes there is time to fine-tune the law before it is enforced because the ban won’t take hold for about six months.
“I was always in favor of the principle of the ordinance, but I wish the council had not rushed into this as quickly as they did,” Waiz said. “For now, I’m willing to give the ordinance a chance.”
Wilson introduced the measure for first reading Oct. 17 and subsequent readings passed Nov. 7 and 21.
All three votes were along party lines, with Democrats Wilson, Keith Fetz, Phil McCauley and John Perkins voting in favor and Republicans Ron Grooms, Connie Sellers and Ed Zastawny voting against. Zastawny’s absence from the Oct. 17 meeting led to a 4-2 margin on the first reading.
Opponents of the ban hoped Waiz would veto the ordinance because it would have taken five votes for the council to override such a move by the mayor. Some of the law’s foes were outraged when they learned of the mayor’s decision.
Jeffersonville residents Derek and Donna Spence said it is morally wrong for the city to impose to ban the public use of a legal product. They expressed concern for entrepreneurs such as Chris and London Smith, who own the Come Back Inn.
“They put everything into that,” Derek Spence said of the Smiths. “That’s their home, their business, their employment. Those are issues (the council and Waiz) didn’t look at.”
“They didn’t look at any of the issues,” Donna Spence said. “But these are our friends and our neighbors and we will support them.”
Becka Christensen, who has spent 14 years building her downtown florist shop, said she no longer feels welcome in Jeffersonville.
“I am devastated,” said Christensen, who is now considering selling Affairs of the Heart. “I am absolutely devastated. I do not see this city taking the right path anymore.”
Christensen quit volunteering her time to Jeffersonville Main Street following the council’s Nov. 21 vote.
“All around town people would never have believed (Waiz) would have done this,” she said. “I just got overrun by the City Council.”
Some backing the law said they understood why Waiz took more than a week to approve the ordinance.
“I really felt (Waiz) needed a little time to think it through,” said Gary Leavell, who is president of the Jeffersonville/Clark County Chapter of the NAACP and a proponent of the ban. “He took the lead and did the right thing.”
Leavell said some businesses, such as restaurants that serve alcohol, might have difficulty adjusting to the ban. It is important, he said, for patronage to continue.
“We’re going to do everything we can to help these businesses grow,” Leavell said.
“He’ll see over time he made the right decision,” said Clark/Floyd Minority Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Nicole Yates Toran. “He made an awesome decision on behalf of the citizens of Jeffersonville.”
At 4 p.m. Wednesday, a group calling itself the Southern Indiana Smoke-free Coalition hosted a press conference in Jeffersonville City Court to encourage Waiz to sign the ordinance. It was during that event that Wilson got the call, which she initially missed, from the mayor.
The coalition identified its members as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association in a advisory announcing the media event. The notice said the group formed “to advocate in support of policies that protect pubic health from the dangers of second-hand smoke in Clark and Floyd counties.”
At least some proponents of the smoking ordinance appeared ready to turn up the pressure on Waiz, to the point of criticizing his “connection” to tobacco interests. Relatives of Susan Waiz, the mayor’s wife, own New Albany’s Kaiser Wholesale Inc., which sells tobacco and tobacco products.
Americans for Non-Smokers Rights spokesman Bronson Frick pointed out the connection to a reporter during a phone call on Wednesday morning. He also expressed concerns that Waiz’s in-laws donated $1,000 — less than 1 percent of the nearly $150,000 he raised during his 2003 bid to become mayor — to his campaign fund.
Waiz dismissed Frick’s concerns several hours before he made his decision. The mayor said he spent time with his in-laws as recently as Thanksgiving and that they only encouraged him to do what he believed was in the city’s best interest.
Americans for Non-Smokers Rights is based in Berkeley, Calif. Frick said the organization’s functions include helping local antismoking groups pass municipal and county smoking bans and to identify connections between local politicians and tobacco interests, particularly those that do not appear to be “transparent.”
But locals who are upset with the city’s action may begin their own game of hardball.
“I will never vote Democrat in this city again,” said Christensen.
Becka Christensen’s husband Dan suggested Wednesday that opponents of the ordinance immediately form a political action committee to work against the 2007 re-election bids of the Democrats who passed the ordinance.