December 17, 2007
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
Countdown to Smoke-Out 2008! In case you forgot, or were outside smoking when someone shared the news, come January 1 there will be no more smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants, casinos, dorms, stadiums and anywhere else that is inside, aside from personal homes and cars.
No idea yet on whether there will be smoking shanties outside of bars frequented by die-hard smokers, or if bars frequented by die-hard smokers will really obey the ban immediately, for that matter. Fines for businesses on the first violation start at $250, increase to $500 for the second and are $2,500 for every subsequent violation within a year of the first. There are some places in Chicago that are virtually impossible to imagine without a great cloud of smoke hovering in the air, which non-smokers will probably be infinitely happy to live without.
Fines for individuals violating the smoking ban start at $100 and won't exceed $250, but that's still a hunk of change for someone already giving the state nearly a dollar a pack in taxes on top of any others.
Still, a lot of interesting ideas are floating around on what to do with the soon-to-be useless smoking paraphernalia, including a project that will use donated ashtrays as art materials for students at Columbia College. The Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago will pay 25 cents for every clean ashtray turned in. As for anything else businesses have used in relation to smoking, which in some cases could include Smoke Eaters and other devices bought to comply with the original Chicago restrictions, tough luck. Perhaps they can someday be sold on e-Bay as kitschy nostalgia items from a simpler time. Or not.
"Smoked Out" by Joseph P
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I'm bittersweet about this ban. I really really love a f***ing cig with my drink when i go out! On the otherhand, I really need to stop smoking and I think this will def help me. It could help a lot of us. Plus I'm happy about not going home smelling like old ashtrays anymore!
I quit two days ago. It's really rough going right now.
Also, once again, your commenting section is all but broken.
What happens on New Year's Eve? Do people have to stop smoking right at midnight? or will the ban not take effect until January 1st whenever your business opens for the day? Either way I'm going to be vigilant about this smoking ban. For far too long you smokers have made my life, and the lives of others, miserable with your disgusting cigarettes, cloves, cigars and whatever else you use to to satisfy your oral fixation. Now it's the non-smokers turn to make your lives miserable.
as a columbia college student im really curious as to how i can get involved in this project.
also having been to nyc london and la i can safely say that not only will smokers be forced to smoke less, they actually will feel better not stinking of cigarettes when they get home from a bar.
i am very happy about this ban. i just wonder what's going to happen in the first few months when people huddle en masse outside of bars. will there be noise complaints or what?
SO excited. That's all.
Um, if you give Columbia College students all those ashtrays aren't they just going to take them home to use while they smoke cloves.
(Please keep in mind when reading the above I started off my college career as an art major, so I'm actually poking fun at how I would have responded in this situation. For all I know, art students have ceased smoking altogether.)
Generally every other Saturady,I smoke two cigars at one of my local public houses, (having more than one public house, is one of the few good things about gentrification),and I will miss smoking said two cigars indoors. But lives will be saved and people who chain smoke cigs in bars make me sick. So I am happy.
p.s the owner of said public house says he “will be damned if some one is gonna tell (him) “that he can't smoke in his own bar!” So this will be interesting as he is hard headed.
I wonder how many places will become "speakeasy" kind of places and have a room in the back where you can smoke.
I wonder if by banning smoking, you increase alcohol consumption...nonsmokers might stay longer and drink more because the smoke isn't bothering them, and smokers might drink more because they may smoke less? Anyone know?
I wonder how many smokers, come 1 Jan., will rant even more about their eternal rights to blow smoke in my face, and how the USA just ain't the USA anymore unless you can help other people stink and help them get cancer.
Take your cigs outside and freeze, you drug-addicted jagoffs.
actually, i don't see anything wrong with a "speakeasy" situation where there's a back room for smokers, secluded from everyone else where they can smoke to their lung's content.
As someone who quit smoking exactly five weeks ago, I'm totally excited.
Now I can drink my one vice without having to watch other people smoke theirs.
And I noticed my local pub added a whole bunch of food to their lineup, which I think is brilliant. Got to get the mouth fix somehow.
Actually, mike thoms, the problem with that solution is finding someone to staff the speakeasy. One of the main points behind this bill was the attempt to protect worker's rights to a healthy environment.
I personally have mixed feelings about this, since I can't really DJ and step outside for a smoke in the middle of my set. Long run? I'll probably be happy if this helps me quit smoking? Short run? I'm getting a bit tired of the "nanny state" mentality.
And yes, much like NYC (and L.A., and London, and etc.) there will be plenty speakeasy situations a bit after the initial ban takes effect.
Matilda, I happen to be one of those "drug-addicted jagoffs" and while I respect your right to choose not to smoke or be disgusted when there are smokers wherever you are, I don't appreciate or respect you for making that comment, nor as a smoker am I a "jagoff".
But anyways, whatever, I'm sure governments will find a way to regulate your behaviors soon enough.
Joseph P.
Mike:
I think Matilda has the location of the smoker's "speak easies", outside in the freezing cold!
Hey Joseph P, I have a win win solution for you Buck-o! Go pee pee in a crowded public pool!
You can call it a "protest" against government regulating your “rights”.
And its still disgusting, rude and arrogant just like smoking in bars and feeling that it’s your right and no one will die from it. But do continue to smoke in private, by all means
Now now Matilda, be nice. Leave the jagoffs alone, they won't be bothering you anymore after 1/1.
mike thoms: you feel the need for that, then by all means, do so in your own private domicile. you can take up where kramer left off on 'seinfeld.' seriously, if you feel the need to compact a bar's worth of smoke into one tiny room, then why not just rent out an extra bedroom in your apartment? i'm sure the neighbors won't mind. or your landlord, for that matter. (apologies if you have a condo, but the neighbors thing still applies.)
I'm all excited about the guv'ment going after smoking, but I'm beginning to realize, they're about to go after fat people next.
Watch as they legislate fried foods and sugar into non-existence while STILL subsidizing all that corn.
I'm looking forward to the ban but can't stand judgmental non-smokers like Matilda. How 'bout I come over and see what kind of car you drive, so as to get an idea the damage you are doing to my lungs? When I'm done with that we can go inside and I'll measure how much of coal-derived energy you're living off of. Compact fluorescents abound?
Celebrate the demise of indoor smoking but spare me the bullshit public health argument. Maybe you should work to repeal the taxes smokers pay. Certainly you must feel guilty suckling on that teat knowing the money comes from dirty dirty, murderous smokers, yes?
I'm looking forward to the ban but can't stand judgmental non-smokers like Matilda. How 'bout I come over and see what kind of car you drive, so as to get an idea the damage you are doing to my lungs? When I'm done with that we can go inside and I'll measure how much of coal-derived energy you're living off of. Compact fluorescents abound?
Celebrate the demise of indoor smoking but spare me the bullshit public health argument. Maybe you should work to repeal the taxes smokers pay. Certainly you must feel guilty suckling on that teat knowing the money comes from dirty dirty, murderous smokers, yes?
You don't realize how much money bars and resturants are going to lose over this ban, not to mention the millions of tax dollars Chicago make on cigarettes. it's a bad idea. People like to smoke when they drink. Fuck non-smokers. They can sit outside.
just for the record I'm not a smoker and I don't like smokers. but if you have to staff the speakeasy then it won't work. screw 'em, let 'em go outside
You don't realize how much money bars and resturants are going to lose over this ban
Yeah, Libby, 'cause NYC bars just tanked after the smoking ban passed. You're a genius.
Sorry you don't have the privilege to trample on others' rights anymore, but saying "fuck non-smokers" only makes you look like the smelly, asshat litterer you most likely are.
p.s and while we are on the tax revenue issue, I wonder how much we are gonna save in healthcare costs, Mr. Asshat! I love that "Ass Hat"
p.s and smokers are litterers when you think about it. Its like let me just toss my butt on the ground "cause I'm a smoker and I have rights!"
Oh and I'm gonna stand in the door way of your Harris Bank ATM, cause "I'm a smoker and I have the right to stand on the property of your bank and blow toxic smoke at you while you take money out your bank!"
And this morning I sat next to a big fat sleeping women on the el this morning. Not only did the experience leave my rib cage hurting, but she smelled like a big fat ash tray, thank you very much!
"Fuck non-smokers. They can sit outside."
Well, no. That is actually not is what is happening, so too bad for you. If you want to be a drug addict, be my guest. Just don't make me breath your air.
Hey Matilda - please check back with us on January 1st. Please inform us of what new law or new cause you've decided to support. You will be further enabled to compose unprovoked, angry, confrontational and self-righteous posts on an anonymous message board.
You sound a little off-kilter today. How 'bout a smoke?
And Jaws, you can pick fights with this blog's self-righteous posters, which seems even more pathetic.
Have fun freezing to get your overpriced fix. I'll be inside laughing. And warm.
Yep, I'm with Matilda and Spook on this one, and I used to smoke 1 1/2 packs a day, so don't claim ignorance. I hate wreaking like smoke after going out because some people have no fucking will power, not to mention a lot of expendable cash to spend on cigarettes! Have fun with emphysema, it's a doozy.
How will this effect places such as hookah bars?
Are they going to be allowed to continue to smoke inside?
Yay! No smoking!
I am sick of the cigarette butts too, Spook. It's called litter. I saw a squirrel with a butt in its mouth once. Yech.
The exceptions to the smoking ban are tobacco stores, hookah lounges that don't serve alcohol, certain private and semi-private rooms in nursing homes, long-term-care facilities and in hotels, according to the Trib.
Maybe all you smokers can get a room in a nursing home and smoke away!