Quigley Proposes Countywide Ban as City Nears Smoking Votes
Cross-posted at Yellow Dog Blog:
As the Chicago City Council approaches a rare divided vote on a proposal to eliminate secondhand smoke from public places, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley is announcing plans to make the ban on involuntary smoke countywide.
Mike Flannery reports that ban opponents, including the Billy Goat Tavern's Sam Cianis, are still trying to block the citywide effort.
Meanwhile, the Tribune says that some Chicago alderman are scrambling desperately to split the baby, including leading ban opponent Burt Natarus, who has a competing proposal that would exempt bars.
According to the Sun-Times, Natarus is the leading fundraiser on the City Council when it comes to tobacco industry allies, with $151,830 pocketed recently.
But the idea of a compromise is a no-go with the ordinance's supporters, who believe the facts and public opinion are on their side:
Natarus's Ban Light will be voted on Tuesday morning before the City's Finance Committee, meanwhile ban supporters are hopeful they will have the 26 votes necessary when the American Cancer Society's version comes before the full City Council on Wednesday.
Joel Africk, CEO of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, said his group could not choose to protect only some people.
If Chicago had gone smoke-free in 1995 when an earlier Smith-like ordinance was proposed, data from other smoking ban cities suggest that 8,000 deaths here could have been prevented, Africk said.
4 comments:
Classy, Pat. You really know how to make substantive points.
Gosh, Pat, you're right! Suggesting that you would like to disfigure a candidate for public office by grinding a lit cigarette into his face is hilarious satire. I don't know what I was thinking--personal threats are funny!
And a list of bars for sale from an Irish paper is meaningless out of context. How is any reader to know if the number of pubs up for sale is higher now after the ban than before? Or that it was the ban and only the ban (or even primarily the ban) that caused these pubs to be put up for sale? We're supposed to take your word for it? I don't think so.
Furthermore, an example from another country is probably not as applicable, due to various economic, political, and cultural differences between nations, as examples of similar bans in the United States. Evidence from the U.S. suggests the results might not be as catastrophic as you claim they have been in Ireland.
Dear Mr. Hickey -
I don't know you very well, nor do I know why you're behaving like such a small, bitter man.
If you have something intelligent to add to this debate, something more than "You're Ugly" or, "So's your mama", please feel free to post.
Otherwise, I'd really appreciate it if you would go away.
Thanks,
YDD
Pat, what is bile if not a comment stating that you'd like to extinguish a lit cigarette in someone's face? That comment certainly wasn't satire. I noticed you didn't even try to defend your defense.
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