New York Ban 'Has Cost 2,600 Jobs'
November 10, 2004
By Chris Moncrieff, PA
New York bar owners have denied the city?s smoking ban has been an unqualified success.
Tom McCabe, former health minister in the Scottish Parliament and now finance minister, has been told that nothing could be further from the truth.
In a letter to Mr McCabe, made public today, the Empire State and Tavern Association, the New York Nightlife Association and the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners said the latest available statistics are damning in terms of the economic effect the ban has had on the city?s hospitality industry.
New York?s bars and taverns and their suppliers have lost 2,600 jobs, 50 million dollars in wages and 70 million dollars in production, it was claimed.
?For months, bars across New York have felt the pain of a total smoking ban, only to be accused by the anti-smoking supporters of misrepresenting the impact,? the letter said.
They claim that another important knock-on effect has been the loss of tips.
?Many bartenders are losing upwards of 50% of their nightly tips and as they are only paid 3.35 dollars per hour, this is having a major impact on their salary.?
The letter said that disgruntled city residents are unhappy about the noise caused by smokers, who are forced to congregate on the street outside bars.
?In some cases this has even led to violent behaviour towards smokers in the street.?
The letter continued: ?As if this isn?t enough to contend with, there is the major issue of how the smoking ban is enforced.
?The burden of imposing the ban is on the bar owner, not the customer who is actually breaking the law. If customers were fined, as legally they are supposed to be, we really would have seen a riot here.
?The real solution is to put smokers back inside the bars where they belong.?
NYC Smoking Clash With Bars
Smokers going underground
Private clubs hot spots for outcasts
By Christian M. Wade
Times Herald-Record
cwade@th-record.com
Middletown ? Call them smoke-easys.
Private clubs and civic organizations, which have struggled with declining membership for years, have suddenly become the hottest night spots around.
The reason is an exemption in the state smoking ban for nonprofit clubs. And local clubs are eagerly jumping through the loophole.
At the Fraternal Order of Eagles Post 544 in Middletown, a ramshackle old house in Courtland Street, members can smoke at the bar inside, something patrons at other local bars are banned from doing.
Coincidentally, membership in the Eagles post has grown 11 percent, from 180 to 200, since the smoking ban went into effect July 24, according to Eagles Secretary Alex Lysyczyn.
Lysyczyn refused to attribute the growth in new members to a demand for smoke-friendly bars, but admitted it's a factor.
"Our members are glad they can relax without having to go outside to smoke," he said.
Exactly what goes on in the Eagles post and other private clubs is a mystery to non-members. You can't just walk into the club and order a drink. Eagles applicants must be sponsored by two members and pass an initiation.
A provision of the state Clean Indoor Air Act allows smoking at private clubs as long as no money is changing hands between staff and club members.
Tavern owners say the nonprofit exemption is another example of how the hastily written state law has led to confusion. They also cite the unwillingness of county health officials to grant waivers for businesses hurt by the smoking ban, a provision that the law affords.
Scott Wexler, president of the Empire State Tavern Association, said the exemption for private clubs has been a bitter pill to swallow for thousands of bar owners who are losing money since the ban went into effect.
"As long as this law is on the books, we believe that it should be applied even-handedly," he said. "If not, it will only exacerbate the economic distress being felt by business owners."
While tavern industry officials say some clubs are abusing the smoking ban's nonprofit exemption, county health officials haven't fined any clubs for violating the law.
"What we do is follow the law as it is written," said Dr. Jean Hudson, Orange County health commissioner. "If we receive a complaint, then we launch a formal investigation."
Bill Caputo, commander of the Disabled American Veterans Post 152 in Newburgh, said he received a letter from the Orange County Health Department last month warning that he would be fined if he allowed members to smoke in the bar.
The letter said a member had complained to county officials about smoking inside the club. Although the club uses volunteer workers, Caputo has been sending his members outside to smoke since the complaint, fearing a $1,000 fine for violating the smoking ban.
Caputo, 85, a World War II veteran, said members want him to fight the charges. He said he's lost half his sales since he ousted the smokers.
"We depend on the income from our alcohol sales," he said.
Other nonprofit organizations, such as VFW Post 973 in Newburgh, have advertised their smoke-friendly status. Until Wednesday, the VFW displayed a hand-written sign outside the club that read "Smokers Welcome." The sign has since been removed, but not the smokers.
Jerry Zemantauski, the quartermaster, or post manager, at the VFW, says he's not breaking the law.
"Until someone comes down here and tells me why we can't, we'll continue smoking in the bar," he said. "Even if they do, I still won't close down, because we're following the law."
Zemantauski, 72, said he'd be forced to close the post if smoking was banned.
"It's hard. This law is hurting everyone."