The Madison City Council voted Wednesday to uphold the comprehensive smoking ban and voted against bringing the issue to a nonbinding public vote in spring.
City alders weighed the economic health of local taverns against the public health risks of secondhand smoke in deliberations that stretched until 5 a.m. Wednesday. The motion to repeal the ban received nine votes in support and 10 opposed.
When the City Council originally passed the smoking ban 17 months ago, the vote was 15-5. Before voting Wednesday, several alders said they were switching their stance on the issue to support suffering tavern owners.
A subsequent vote of 14-5 rejected a measure to issue an advisory public referendum on the ban. Bars will have to gather 12,854 authorized signatures to revive the referendum.
The motion to allow for temporary ban exemptions for owners that can prove economic hardship stemming from the ban was placed on file for possible consideration in the future.
\Small business is the life blood of our society,"" Ald. Isadore Knox Jr., District 13, said.
""Our job is to protect the public. But we must also do it in a fiscally sound way,"" Knox said. ""The bottom line is we gotta be real. People need to be healthy, but the first order of business is putting food on the table.""
Other alders said they were responding strictly to the will of their constituency. Ald. Brian Benford, District 12, said he was ""incredibly na??ve"" before voting for the smoking ban and that the City Council demonstrated a ""tremendous lack of honesty"" in anticipating the harmful consequences of the ban.
However, he said he voted against repealing it because the majority of his constituents wanted the smoking ban to remain in place.
""We have to weigh the public well-being of the majority against the few,"" Benford said. ""It is our job to make those tough decisions.""
""We have prevented suffering,"" said Ald. Tim Gruber, District 11, adding he would like to see Madison take the lead in a regional and statewide smoke-free law. ""I do believe that business will come back, that it will improve,"" Gruber said.
Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, said the central issue is public health. ""I'm hoping that this is just an adjustment period,"" Konkel said. ""I hope that folks in this room will not give up on us.""
Other alders sought compromise but, unable to arrive at one, voted against repeal. Ald. Austin King, District 8, said he had been lobbied by some bar owners to repeal the smoking ban and by others to keep it. ""We have rejected middle grounds,"" he said. ""Ultimately what it comes down to is weighing people's lives against people's lives.""
""This has been really heart wrenching,"" King said. ""This has been tough.\
