sparks wrote:
Laws like this already exist in states all over the country, including Illinois. I love being able to go to smoke free restaurants and bars there. Smokers do not have the right to pollute the air that others have to breathe. I have already contacted my state reps,asking them to support this law.
Then just patronize the smoke free places. Talk to business owners and express your concerns. That's the only right way. If an owner chooses to cater to smokers nobody is forcing you to patronize the place.
The government should not be in the business of regulating such matters and taking rights away just based upon the personal preferences of some. Some of these cases just kill me! A woman takes a job at a smoke filled bar and then goes on a mission to ban smoking in all bars claiming it endangers her health. So work elsewhere. Duh!
Sure some states have imposed various forms of smoking bans. And business has declined as a result. Over time some of the former patrons return, but not all. So there is an actual revenue cost for such bans, both to the owner and to the tax collections. But the type of ban that effectively precludes even having a separate smoking section closed off from non-smokers concerns me greatly. I remember when FL put in it's ban they had a provision for having a smoking section that was so difficult to comply with that almost no establishment could get certified to comply. And some businesses did have to go out of business because of the ban, causing any gains (more like recouping) at remaining businesses to be inflated because overall the number of patrons were still down.
And thanks to such less than subtle efforts the only way you can smoke at a Chicago airport is to leave the building and have to re-enter through security. That's just insane considering that Chicago is a connecting city and you can be stuck there at the airport alone for several hours in addition to the time in air. Say what you want about smoking you are doing NOBODY any favors by depriving travelers for long periods of time by design. At least when Gary was trying to be a real airport the distance between the door and the gate was nothing. But just try walking from O'Hare's farthest gates with all your carryons in toe to stand outside in the cold with vehicle exhaust all around, then having to trek back through security and all the way back to the gate. Just because the city determines that smoking is bad and "for your own health & safety" they can't have so much as an open air area inside security? This is ridiculous! and one of my pet peeves when there's talk of such smoking bans.