In 1992 Madison was on the forefront of a national trend toward eliminating smoking from all public places.
Now the city is \lagging behind"" in protecting nonsmokers health and rights according to Ald. Jean MacCubbin, District 11. MacCubbin introduced a proposal earlier this summer to City Council which will eliminate the exceptions for separately ventilated smoking rooms and smoking at full service bars allowed for under the 1992 ordinance, if accepted.
The proposal would also include eateries, which had previously been exempt from the original ordinance due to their classification as bars. Under the new measure restaurants would need to have more than 50 percent of their sales come from alcohol instead of the previous 33 percent. About 30 bars would be affected by the change, according to MacCubbin.
""Essentially all these years there have been establishments that have been between 33 and 50 percent that for most cases act like restaurants but want to be under the guise of [being a] bar because it allows smoking,"" MacCubbin said.
Madison's restaurant and bar industry has mounted a stiff challenge to the proposal.
""We understand that the council is at a split vote and we'll try to convince them that its wrong to interfere with business anymore,"" Madison-Dane County Tavern League President Barb Mercer said. Mercer is also owner of Pitcher's Pub, 323 W. Beltline Hwy., one of the bars possibly affected by the proposal. ""This is going to be devastating to Madison.""
However, this does not protect employees, as hotel and restaurant workers were left out of a recent smoke-free work place ordinance passed by the Common Council. A recent study found restaurant and bar employees to be nearly twice the risk of lung cancer.
""We're looking at smoking as a health issue and we're trying to ensure as many people as possible can be or are in smoke-free environments,"" Madison Mayor Sue Bauman said.
Employees know the risk before applying for their jobs, according to Mercer, who added that positions usually offer the highest wage available to most college students.
""I'm not pro-smoke in any way, shape or form, but I am pro-business,"" she said. ""This is the third time in five years they have come after us and we have stood against them in the past.\
