Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jorgelito
Quote:
Of 46,000 businesses in Austin, over 99% are smoke free.
No smoking is allowed anywhere children under 18 are present.
Over 2000 restaurants are smoke free. Only 6 allow smoking.
Over 400 bars are smoke free. Only 200 allow smoking.
Only 211 businesses and their employees have chosen to allow smoking in Austin.
Ah, see, now that's a win-win: Places to smoke AND places that are smoke free and everyone stays in business and everyone has a choice.
|
What is listed above is the ordinance already in place, not the one being proposed.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jorgelito
On another note, who says bars are going out of business cause you can't smoke inside? I haven't heard about that.
|
They were discussing the places that have already gone out of business on the radio. They said the reason a lot of the places will close is smokers tend to drink more alcohol than nonsmokers, and stay longer than nonsmokers. I imagine the businesses under the ordinance currently in place had a significant amount of their income coming from smokers, but not enough alcohol sales (at least 50% of their total income) to let them allow smoking.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Kadath
An idea I haven't seen discussed anywhere in this argument (perhaps I missed it) is a smoking license. Much like an alcohol license, it serves to answer both sides of the issue. It generates revenue for the government, but the cost to the owner is made up by increased patronage from smokers, and bars that choose not to pay for the license are attractive to the nonsmokers. What's the problem with this theory?
|
They are framing this in Austin as a worker health issue, not a customer health issue.