Bowling Green City Commissioners Should NOT Enact A Blanket Cigarette Smoking Ban.
City shouldn’t get involved in smoking issue
By the Daily News
A smoking ban that will be considered by the Bowling Green City Commission in the coming weeks should end up on the cutting room floor.
It is clear that with Mayor Elaine Walker on her way out of office and into the role of Kentucky’s secretary of state, her support of the ban is needed for it to pass. She leaves at the end of the month. City Commissioner Brian Nash proposed a city ordinance and wants a special called meeting before Walker leaves office for a second reading.
Politically, Nash’s move is smart. The votes are there, what with himself, Walker and City Commissioner Bill Waltrip having expressed their support for such an ordinance. The city commission in 2007 rejected a proposal to ban smoking in Bowling Green by a 3-2 vote.
However, 27 communities in Kentucky have some form of an anti-smoking ordinance. Glasgow’s anti-smoking ordinance went into effect last year.
While we acknowledge that smoking causes health problems, choices should be available for citizens who are looking for dining or cocktail venues - smoking is not illegal and should not be. It might not be very smart, but it is legal.
In a free market economy, mechanisms are in place that take care of people’s needs. Bowling Green’s marketplace has reacted well to the demands of the public sector that wants smoke-free environments. There evidently is enough support for nonsmoking facilities because many businesses have reacted. There are dozens of restaurant/bars where smoking is not permitted, so nonsmokers have plenty of options.
However, it is clear that demand for public smoking options remains strong. There are restaurants and bars in Bowling Green that still cater to this group.
The main problem we have with any public smoking ban is that the marketplace is working well in this regard and the government need not get involved. The less our government is involved with our daily lives, the better.
A move has been made in Frankfort to enact a smoking ban statewide, though its chances of passing are slim. Kentucky is a tobacco-producing state and politically, that has heavy weight.
State lawmakers on Thursday filed the first bill calling for a statewide ban on smoking in or near the entrances of workplaces and public places, including restaurants, bars, hotels and bingo halls.
The fate of that bill seems clear.
While the votes are there for such an ordinance in Bowling Green, it is clear that the free market is catering to both smokers and nonsmokers.
Consequently, the government should stay out of the lives of those who choose to smoke. Nonsmokers are being taken care of; they have plenty of choices to patronize businesses which have smoking policies to their liking.
Editor's comment: Greg Jent captures the essense of it all. Read it below:
City has no right to mess with business owners’ lives
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 10:41 AM CST
The smoking ban proposed by the city commission is antithetical to a free society.
I’m a nonsmoker, but I understand that these restaurant owners have spent their savings, borrowed money, taken on much risk and worked hard to build their businesses. They make the choices they feel are best for their business on the property they own or lease. For these city commissioners to believe they can justly interfere with the decisions business owners make without taking any of the risk and without investing the long hours these business owners invest is simply arrogant and heavy handed.
If you as an individual are opposed to smoking establishments, then vote with your wallet and dine at smoke-free restaurants, write letters to the business owners or if you really believe in what you say then take the risks yourself and open a competing establishment, but don’t use the government to push your preferences on others or someday you might find someone else using the government to push their will on you.
Greg Jent
Bowling Green
By the Daily News
A smoking ban that will be considered by the Bowling Green City Commission in the coming weeks should end up on the cutting room floor.
It is clear that with Mayor Elaine Walker on her way out of office and into the role of Kentucky’s secretary of state, her support of the ban is needed for it to pass. She leaves at the end of the month. City Commissioner Brian Nash proposed a city ordinance and wants a special called meeting before Walker leaves office for a second reading.
Politically, Nash’s move is smart. The votes are there, what with himself, Walker and City Commissioner Bill Waltrip having expressed their support for such an ordinance. The city commission in 2007 rejected a proposal to ban smoking in Bowling Green by a 3-2 vote.
However, 27 communities in Kentucky have some form of an anti-smoking ordinance. Glasgow’s anti-smoking ordinance went into effect last year.
While we acknowledge that smoking causes health problems, choices should be available for citizens who are looking for dining or cocktail venues - smoking is not illegal and should not be. It might not be very smart, but it is legal.
In a free market economy, mechanisms are in place that take care of people’s needs. Bowling Green’s marketplace has reacted well to the demands of the public sector that wants smoke-free environments. There evidently is enough support for nonsmoking facilities because many businesses have reacted. There are dozens of restaurant/bars where smoking is not permitted, so nonsmokers have plenty of options.
However, it is clear that demand for public smoking options remains strong. There are restaurants and bars in Bowling Green that still cater to this group.
The main problem we have with any public smoking ban is that the marketplace is working well in this regard and the government need not get involved. The less our government is involved with our daily lives, the better.
A move has been made in Frankfort to enact a smoking ban statewide, though its chances of passing are slim. Kentucky is a tobacco-producing state and politically, that has heavy weight.
State lawmakers on Thursday filed the first bill calling for a statewide ban on smoking in or near the entrances of workplaces and public places, including restaurants, bars, hotels and bingo halls.
The fate of that bill seems clear.
While the votes are there for such an ordinance in Bowling Green, it is clear that the free market is catering to both smokers and nonsmokers.
Consequently, the government should stay out of the lives of those who choose to smoke. Nonsmokers are being taken care of; they have plenty of choices to patronize businesses which have smoking policies to their liking.
Editor's comment: Greg Jent captures the essense of it all. Read it below:
City has no right to mess with business owners’ lives
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 10:41 AM CST
The smoking ban proposed by the city commission is antithetical to a free society.
I’m a nonsmoker, but I understand that these restaurant owners have spent their savings, borrowed money, taken on much risk and worked hard to build their businesses. They make the choices they feel are best for their business on the property they own or lease. For these city commissioners to believe they can justly interfere with the decisions business owners make without taking any of the risk and without investing the long hours these business owners invest is simply arrogant and heavy handed.
If you as an individual are opposed to smoking establishments, then vote with your wallet and dine at smoke-free restaurants, write letters to the business owners or if you really believe in what you say then take the risks yourself and open a competing establishment, but don’t use the government to push your preferences on others or someday you might find someone else using the government to push their will on you.
Greg Jent
Bowling Green
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 2:02 PM
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