In a few weeks the Milwaukee Common Council will meet to vote on whether or not to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Several Viewpoints on this subject have been written in the Marquette Tribune, most recently by Christian Eichenlaub. Whatever your thoughts, it is important to understand what is really at stake with regard to the statistics many are relaying concerning the financial well-being of local bars and restaurants.

Mr. Eichenlaub writes that "Here in Minneapolis, some 40 bars have closed since the county-wide ban was enacted." This is a number used by Sue Jeffers, an outspoken critic against the smoking ban, who has been caught using false statistics to support her agenda. According to the Minneapolis Division of Licenses and Consumer Services, only 11 establishments licensed to sell liquor have closed since the Minneapolis ban went into effect. Additionally, the Minneapolis Pioneer Press has done an analysis of taxable sales reported to the Minnesota Department of Revenue reporting that "Overall, the hospitality industry continues to grow despite claims that bans are hurting individual bars and restaurants. Fears that a patchwork of regulations would lead customers to seek smoker-friendly bars and restaurants appear to be largely unfounded. There was no significant decline in food and liquor sales in any of the counties or cities where smoking is restricted. Despite claims of widespread bar and restaurant closures in Minneapolis since the ban, there now are more liquor establishments in the city than when it took effect." The article continues on and may be found at:

http://www.twincities.com/mid/twincities/13336806.htm

Studies by leading universities across the nation have pointed to similar trends, two of which include the Harvard School of Public Health of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. These Studies may be found at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/php/pri/tcrtp/Smoke-free_Workplace.pdf

and http://www.smokefreeforhealth.org/pdf/Economic%20Study.pdf respectively.

I am not convinced that this ban would be a threat to businesses, but Mr. Eichenlaub is correct, it is not always black and white. I would be interested to hear what he has to say regarding the Council's creating of "incentives or grants for businesses that choose to go smoke free," and whether or not these incentives may actually work, or continue instead to allow businesses to ignore the very serious problem of secondhand smoke.