For years crusaders who want to make Chicago’s public spaces smoke free have had the backing of doctors, medical researchers, people who’ve beaten cancer, and the survivors of those who haven’t. That hasn’t swayed the City Council. “We haven’t had the votes in the past, but we’ll be looking for them again,” says 28th Ward alderman Ed Smith, who’s trying to round up the 26 votes he’ll need to pass an ordinance. “I know it’s an uphill fight.”
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The counteroffensive is being led by officials from the restaurant and tobacco industries, who downplay the harm done by secondhand smoke and insist a ban would hurt small businesses. “We all know carcinogens are bad for you,” says Andrew Ariens, communications director for the Illinois Restaurant Association. “But to what degree, to what level? It’s not clear.” What is clear, he says, is that banning cigarettes is bad for business–if smokers can’t smoke in bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys they’ll stop going there. He thinks the city’s best policy would be to let the free market reign. Business owners who want to ban cigarettes should be free to do so–and those who don’t shouldn’t have to. “The market is already driving this issue,” he says. “There has been a 90 percent increase in nonsmoking sections in Chicago over the last few years. Why not leave it to the business owners–let them decide–instead of having government step in?”
Williams goes on, “We’re not exactly asking Chicago to go out on a limb here. We’re only asking Chicago to come into the 21st century.” More than 1,000 U.S. cities now have bans on smoking, including Lexington, Kentucky, and Dallas. Several states have them too–Florida, Vermont, California, Massachusetts, and New York.
Daley hadn’t volunteered an opinion. When reporters pressed him for comment he finally suggested that he might support a ban on smoking in restaurants but not in bars, because he thought it would be bad for business. “You want some fresh air in your restaurant–that’s a legitimate concern,” he told reporters. As for bars, he said, people “do drink and smoke.” Aldermen I’ve talked to say his legislative aides then pressed them to vote against the ban.
Supporters of a ban figure that if anyone should be their ally in this cause it’s the head of the public health department. But they’re trying not to make any intemperate remarks for fear they’ll undermine their case with the mayor.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Dave Curd.
