LIL' BUDDY'S BLOG - SMOKE FREE ILLINOIS BECOMES LAW ON JANUARY 1, 2008!
THE CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE MARKET, AND OTHER THINGS CHICAGO, FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A LITTLE WHITE DOG!
Hope you enjoyed your Christmas, folks! Way too much rich food for me. If I eat one more scrap of Prime Rib, man, I'll bulk up to 14 pounds!
However, I did make quite a hall on Christmas Day - here I am, counting my Christmas money. Bling, Bling!
You know, you've seen pictures of me standing up. Sitting down. In my human mom or dad's lap. Reading the Chicago Trib.
But you never saw me with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth! Have you?
I never did smoke, never touched the stuff, personally - except for that one Bachelor Party I went to a few months ago for my friend Rocky, the Rottweiler on Marmora Avenue. I carried an unlit cigar in my mouth for about half an hour. When I accidentally dropped it on the floor, to flirt with that hot babe of a Beagle from Monitor Avenue, the next block over, a party-crashing Poodle started actually munching on my cigar! He actually ate it! What an animal!
It's a very good thing this little white dog does not light up, however. The new Smoke Free Illinois Act becomes law next Tuesday, New Year's Day, in Chicago, and across the whole state of Illinois. See reporter Steve Schmadeke's article in today's Chicago Tribune on how Chicago will enforce the new smoking ban, plus a video discussing the new Illinois law, by clicking here.
Under the new law, smoking will be completely banned statewide, in all restaurants, bars, public buildings and state vehicles, hallways and lobbies, private banquet facilities,arenas, bowling alleys, and more. Smoking will still be allowed in private houses, of courses, some nursing homes with private rooms(haven't these older folks learned YET?), a few hotel rooms (although no more than 25% of rooms in a given hotel can be designated for smoking, and these smoking rooms must all be on the same floor).
Also, smoking will be allowed in retail tobacco selling establishments, so long as these retailers are in business before this coming Tuesday, January 1st, they derive at least 80% of their revenue from the sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products, and do not sell food or liquor. (A few clever retailers are re-configuring their stores to take advantage of this small loophole in the new law).
Smokers can continue to light up in certain outdoor beer gardens of taverns, but only if the area is completely open (tents or roofed areas do not count), and wait staff cannot be compelled to serve people seated in these outdoor smoking areas.
Further, smokers cannot congregate at the entrance of retail establishments to grab a quick drag - no smoking will be allowed within 15 feet of an entrance door or window of any public or private establishment.
The law comes after considerable wrangling over many years between the American Lung Association and other health-related concerns, and many members of the Illinois Restaurant Association. Many restaurant and bar owners were concerned curtailment of smoking rights would immediately and irrevocably kill their business - although this has not proven true in the other 22 states, and the entire country of Canada, where a smoking ban in public places is already in place. These retailers also favored a statewide ban, rather than a patchwork of local ordinances, since it would create a level playing field for every retailer throughout the state of Illinois.
Here in Chicago, the new law supersedes one passed in 2005, which was to prohibit smoking in liquor establishments next July. The Chicago law already prohibits smoking in most other public places across the city. Many Chicago suburbs enacted similar laws - again, loopholes in these local laws will be tightly closed by the new Illinois law. Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Terry Mason, says the new law will be enforced vigorously across the city. "There will be no freebies," he said.
According to Chicago Alderman Ed Smith, of the city's 28th Ward, the new law will save lives, especially among food service personnel previously compelled to work their entire shifts in smoky restaurants and bars. "Eight people a day are dying from secondhand smoke, and it's a preventable death," said Smith. Alderman Smith sponsored the Chicago no-smoking ordinance.
Across Illinois, on or before the stroke of midnight Monday night, New Year's Eve, retailers must remove ashtrays in their establishments, and post new, state-mandated "Smoke Free Illinois" no-smoking signs. Businesses who violate Smoke Free Illinois will receive three written warnings, before the city or the state sends out inspectors to the establishment without warning. Those who continue to flaunt the law could pay fines between $250 and $2,500. Offending smokers themselves will be fined as well.
Although many smokers will reluctantly accept the new law, as they have in the other states where similar legislation has passed, many non-smokers, including this Little White Dog from the Northwest Side, actually applaud it. Said Mike Woldearegay, 30, a Chicagoan and patron at the Morseland Cafe in Rogers Park, "Three years ago I went to Toronto and I came out of the bars and didn't smell like cigarettes! Since then, I've said I wish they would do this in Chicago."
Be careful what you wish for, Mike. The new law takes effect across Illinois, and all over Chicago, in just four days!
Then, you dogs, we can all breathe a bit easier!
HAVE A SAFE, COUGH-FREE, AND PROSPEROUS 2008, EVERYONE - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
YOUR ACE REPORTER ON FOUR PAWS,
BUDDY HOLLY MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
