SMOKE FREE ILLINOIS - Smoking Ban Across Illinois, Throughout Chicago - On Its One-Year Anniversary!
HEALTH ADVOCATES, ANTI-SMOKING PROPONENTS APPLAUD THE BAN. BAR, RESTAURANT OWNERS PROVIDE MIXED REVIEWS!
Here in Chicago, and across Illinois, it has been just over one full year since a Statewide IL Smoking Ban - "Smoke Free Illinois" - took effect at the stroke of Midnight, January 1, 2008. The legislation prohibited smoking in virtually all public spaces in IL - including bars, restaurants, sports arenas, workplaces, most hotel rooms, and in publicly-owned vehicles.
The verdict on the legislation so far? Well, it depends on who you ask, and where you live within IL.
Some bar owners in the Southeast Suburbs of Chicago, adjacent to Indiana, where smoking in bars and restaurants is still, for the moment, legal, say they have lost business. One Lansing IL tavern owner complains of a 30-40% falloff in revenue. According to Chicago Tribune Reporter Bonnie Miller Rubin, in her article from January 6th, Steve Nemitz, owner of Shannon's Landing, found that several of his best customers brought their business across the Indiana border, less than a mile away, to light up legally while enjoying a beer or cocktail.
Other restaurateurs in the City of Chicago have a more positive opinion on the smoking ban. One downtown Chicago restaurant owner has seen his business increase considerably over 2007, along with positive comments from restaurant patrons. Many, he says, actually enjoy a dinner out even more, as they now don't have to return home smelling of cigarette smoke.
In the same Tribune article, Joel Africk, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, reminded there is no debate on the negative health effects of second-hand smoke. The issue, therefore, is one of convenience - being able to smoke in the same establishment where food and drink are served.
Other states that imposed similar smoking bans earlier point to a decline in certain serious ailments after bans were imposed. New York State, for example, banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2003. Statewide in New York, the incidence of heart attacks requiring hospitalization fell by 8% after the ban.
See Miller Rubin's Tribune article for more.
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