St. Louis authorities would debate over an indoor smoking ban
St Louis Board of Aldermen is considering joining the discussion related to possible indoor tobacco ban in all public places.
However, the amendment proposed by the Board of Aldermen member Lyda Krewson would be considered with one snag: It will enter into force only in case St. Louis County authorities approve this legislation as well which is almost absolutely unlikely.
The bill has contrived to infuriate both the good old rivals - opponents of any smoking related restrictions who claim that the rather difficult economic situation does not permit to impose any bans as it would deeply hurt businesses — and supporters of the smoking ban, who state that there should be no conditional approach to this issue.
The proposal is likely to meet opposition even in the Board as its members support restrictions on indoor smoking but not the overall ban.
At the same time Lyda Krewson ban author, stated that the ban should be imposed not only by the City authorities but by the St. Louis County as well, otherwise it would create loopholes for business owners. .
The latter statement is related to several St. Louis wards that are situated on the administrative border between the City and the County. In those wards, establishments that serve food and alcohol on one side of the border line could find themselves under the ban whereas others would be not have it since they pertain to the County jurisdiction although they are situated just meters from each other.
The proposal to ban indoor smoking has reached St. Louis at a time when this issue has been raising heated debates on the local and national level. For instance, Iowa, Maryland, Oregon and several more states implemented indoor smoking bans during last two years. As regards the State of Missouri, where no smoking ban is imposed, several cities including Belton and Gladstone banned smoking in al enclosed entities.
Meanwhile, the proposal introduced in St. Louis Board of Aldermen, provides almost no exemptions. According to it, Smoking would be prohibited in the majority of public places, among which are restaurants, bars and other entities that serve food, elevators, casinos, office buildings and hospitals. Sports venues both enclosed an outdoor are as well in the list of public places to ban smoking. The only places to be exempted from the smoking ban would be almost 25 percent of hotel rooms, tobacco stores and several private clubs.
Restaurant owners would have to put a sign “smoking is prohibited” and take away ash trays from the tables.
The individuals who would be caught smoking in banned places would be subjected to pay a $50 fine whereas the business owners would have to fork up $500 in case they do not comply with the legislation.
Even before the official introduction of the proposal business owners began criticizing it heavily stating that it would inevitably lead to a drop in their revenues what is unacceptable in the current economic downturn.
"It will hazardous for the businesses in St Louis," complained Cindy Montgomery, a manager of Golden Eye in West ward. She stated that it should be up to the restaurant owner to decide whether his establishment should remain smoker-friendly or switch to smoke-free
"All you have to do is to post a sigh on the front door: ’Smoking is permitted’ or ’Smoking is prohibited’"
Rachel Walters, communications manager of the Smoke-Free Kids St. Louis branch praised Krewson’s efforts of imposing an indoor bans but named her proposal too hypothetical.
“It looks like the officials are trying to shift the responsibility on each other,” Walters said. "It is ridiculous to wait for somebody to decide something."
