I’ve already written about this subject plenty, but I feel like I have one more take on it left in me. Let’s get it over with.
As soon as August, the city council will vote to enact a stronger smoking ordinance, which will amount to the final nail in the coffin for coffin nails. That, as they say, will be that. I don’t think it’s a winnable fight for the opposition. It’s the one issue just about everyone on the council agrees on, and there are too many secondhand smoke studies to back them up. Some are more subjective than others, but those studies are out there.
See, once the ban on lighting up in restaurants went into effect, the push for kicking cigarettes out of bars was just a matter of time. It gave anti-smokers all the leverage they needed. They could be open about detesting smoking and demanding that it be eradicated anywhere and everywhere. They were maybe even right. I won’t debate the point anymore.
Seriously, look: they have the votes. It’s over, smokers. I’ve been resigned to this for months. I am, more or less, okay with it. It’s just another adjustment that I hope I won’t have to live with for long. (Yeah, I’m smoking; no, I won’t talk about quitting again when I give it another shot.)
Here’s what bothers me. If the anti-smoking faction would just take the victory and be done with it, that would be fine. But, no, they have to scoreboard everyone. Smoke-Free Dallas is swooping in now, and they’ll act like they brought home a victory. It was happening anyway. This was on the table as soon as Tom Leppert won, and it would have been on the table if Laura Miller had still been in office.
All I’m asking? Accept the win humbly. In August, I’ll raise my glass to you when I see you at the bar. I’ll nod at you and you’ll nod back. Until then, don’t shout me down with statistics and horror stories and talk about your right to get drunk in a smoke-free environment. You won. We lost. Don’t act like Kevin Garnett when he won the NBA title. Act like you’ve been there before.
(I’m sure there will be those who choose to overreact in the comments and shout me down with statistics and whatnot. I’ll thank you in advance for not reading a word I said.)
86 comments
dude, i’m heading out for a 4:20 smoke break right now…care to join me?
all the non-smokers suck it
i won’t smoke in your bars if you’ll just shut the fluck up already
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZuJIr_uW3M
I say this as a non-smoker, this is silly and a waste of everyone’s time to be discussing.
If a bar wants to be smoke free they are free to ban smoking. Leave it up to the bar to decide. I can’t say I’ll miss coming home from a night of drinking smelling like stale smoke but let’s be honest, those 6 or 7 drinks I had weren’t so good for me either.
I am not a smoker, but occasionally, when not sober, I have been known to Helen Keller lit cigarettes.
It makes me sad that my opportunities for such antics are dwindling.
Not being able to smoke in a bar is flat-out un-American.
Does this mean places like Javier’s cigar bar will go away?
Oh my, is it 4:20 already? Non-smokers are weak execrable crybabies who wear too much
cologne well maybe so, but does my cologne give cancer to proven lab-rats does it make your nostrils swell up like innertubes while you gasp bugeyed does it
make your clothes smell like an ashtray
God damned right it does now just shush.
So happy that I live in Allen.
Still smokin in Allen Texas, thanks to our wise, pro-business Mayor and City Council!
brb
g2s
You’re right, Zac, but I still hate to see smokers go out with a whimper. Not being able to smoke in a bar is nothing short of ridiculous. Like frogs boiling in a pot we’re watching our freedoms disappear one by one, all in the name of some antiseptic utopia cooked up by social engineers like Smoke-Free Dallas. Those folks should really get jobs–or at least listen to Hank Williams’ advice to “mind your own business.” But they won’t.
Ugh. I respect not smoking in an eating establishment. I can even understand an upscale lounge or bar being smoke free.
But taking away my choice to have a smoke at a dive bar while listening to some Hank Williams and Miles Davis on the jukebox?
Alas America, I knew you well……
The Nanny state marches forward!
I’m happy you live in Allen, too. :->
What will happen to the Loon? The place will still have second hand smoke 20 years from now…
What will happen to the Winedale? Ships? The Goat? Club Schmidt (or whatever it is)?
Banning smoking from free-standing bars-especially SPORTS BARS-etc.–, makes about as much sense as wearing white linen to eat organic faux tofu cutlettes at Sonny Bryan’s. Or booking Pamela Anderson to play Hedda Gabler at Medieval Times because “it’s a classic”.
PS: Guessing Myke’s jukebox faves listed @ Quinn?
So basically, if you go into Snookies, leave your dog on a leash outside, light up a Camel and order a beer in a non-recyclable bottle… you’re looking at 10 to 20 years.
now that they are banning smoking when will the city council get serious like the Brits and tackle a real issue — too much salt! yeah maybe we need to limit the number of holes in a salt shaker
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030164/Now-health-safety-cut-number-holes-chip-shop-salt-shakers.html
I’m really having a hard time understanding the reasoning behind a ban on smoking in bars. There are plenty of non-smoking bars in Dallas already. If any bar wants to be smoke free they are able to do so, I don’t see why city council thinks they have the right to tell a business that they can no longer operate in the manner they so choose.
If you don’t like the smoke in The Loon any of the restaurant bars across the street in The West Village would be happy to accommodate your desire for a smoke free drinking environment but don’t take The Loon away from the rest of us.
I’m a non-smoker and I really can’t believe people are standing for this. Why are Dallas citizens (typically a free-thinking, indignant and individualistic bunch) allowing our city government to tell private business owners how to run their private establishments? We don’t need government to protect us from ourselves. This situation is 100 times more disgusting than any smoke-filled bar in town (except maybe The Goat – geez, that place is like being inside a colon). There hasn’t been nearly enough outrage from local bar owners and smokers. What scares me most about this is the precedent it sets. What’s next? While we’re at it, why don’t we just ban sneezing and coughing in public? Isn’t that how most airborne bacteria and disease is spread? Wait…that’s actually a good point! Egads! How can we allow such dangerous practices to continue?! Sneezing must be stopped!! *begins creating online petition*
What’s next? The State fair not selling corn dogs and cotton candy.All 7-eleven stores within Dallas city limits, must quit selling slurpees,candy bars and Hostess snack cakes.By the year 2020 bars in Dallas will have to quit selling alcohol.
OK, I’ve got the perfect solution:
Every bar in Dallas that wishes to allow smoking must clearly display a sign indicating that they are not a smoke free environment outside their door along with a warning about the dangers of second hand smoke, just like cigarette packages. If a patron decides to enter the bar with full knowledge that it is a smoking environment and is informed of the dangers of doing so, that is entirely their decision.
It’s win/win. Those that want to smoke or don’t mind being in places it allow it are fine and those that have a problem with it don’t have to breath a single breath of tainted air.
I’m completely serious about this, could someone better versed in city procedure tell me how I can have this proposal considered by city council instead of an all out ban of smoking in bars?
http://jmckee.googlepages.com/Smoking.pdf
I made a sign, the city can even turn it into a nice plastic sign and charge $200 for it so the city makes a nice profit. All bars must post the sign at their entrances if they allow smoking. The bars get to continue to run their business as they see fit and non-smokers aren’t exposed to any unwanted second hand smoke. Everybody wins!
JCM: That was more or less the idea I had when I was running for mayor: charge a nominal fee for a smoking license ($200 sounds fine), make sure it was clearly identified as a smoking establishment (a sign works; I also thought it should be marked in advertising). Like you said, everybody wins.
Too bad I screwed that up.
Progressive cities like L.A. and New York banned smoking in bars a long time ago. Did businesses and nightlife in these places crumble after smoking was banned? Uh, not so much. I don’t understand why people around here insist on living in the dark ages. I can’t tell you how nice it is to go to a cool bar and not come home reeking of smoke.
For the record, no, I am not a smoker, and no, I’m not going to go to FRISCO just so I can go to a smoke free bar. I love places like The Old Monk and Cosmos; I just would like to not get lung cancer while hanging out there.
I don’t smoke. But on the last night it is legal in Dallas to smoke in a bar, we will have a FrontBurner Smoking Party, smokes provided, at a bar to be named later (though you can guess now which bar it’ll be). See you there and smell you later, Zac.
I quite smoking 10 years ago, and still miss it terribly. I regret that I didn’t know you back then, Mr. Crain, because I am confident that we would have enjoyed many a pack together, and often.
I don’t feel any smugness in seeing the glowing joysticks stubbed out. I mourn your loss, just as I mourned the day when we could no longer drink while we drove in Texas. (In both cases, it’s a change we know is good for us, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.)
You’ll quit smoking eventually. Like increasing your mortgage, it’s something responsible adults eventually do. (Think of this: some people get old, get fat, lose their hair, and have to quit smoking; two out of four ain’t bad, right Tim?)
Before then, smoke like you mean it. If your toenails aren’t turning yellow, that just means you’re not smoking hard enough.
@Tim
I’m holding you to that and even though I don’t smoke I’ll be lighting up with the rest of you.
“Progressive cities like L.A. and New York….”
Exactly. This “progressive” behavior control isn’t about to stop. Everyone’s in favor of such controls, or at least laissez-faire (irony intended), as long as he or she isn’t directly affected. Thus the raising of the legal drinking age, limited bans on smoking, phone bans in school zones, etc.
The problem is that you all believed governments were “only gonna stick it in this far.” Now it’s starting to hurt.
McKee, I don’t joke about matters concerning parties and bars. And smoking. I once bet a friend that I could smoke an entire carton of cigarettes in a week’s time without, at the end of the week, feeling a hankering for a smoke after a meal.
I’m serious as emphysema.
Smoking: The End of an Error
People who smoke look cool. Men look more masculine and women look for feminine.
Smoke is hot. It is real and it is happening right now in every disco from here to Riverside. You know, Summer Loving and Grease is the word. You know?
Don’t you?
You know?
That’s what I thought.
When I wake up in a ditch somewhere with my clothes smelling like smoke, it’s how I know that I was at a bar the night before.
Detective work at its finest.
Now this confuses everything.
zac, this us how I quit:
Step 1. Wait till u get the flu, bronchitis, strep or something strong enough to keep u Ill and in bed for at least 24 hours.
Step 2. The body goes in to recovery mode. The physical kick is as easy as it gets. Once you start feeling better, the only battle is mental.
Step 3. If u can’t fight the craving, go get some camel original snus. It delivers a soothing stream of swedish style nicotine. Yes, the sweden that has the lowest rate of lung cancer. Over there, 20% of them (including women) snus.
Now I don’t snore, sleep better and have my lungs back. My indoor soccer games are much more fullfiling these days. I’m even snusing while I play and no one even knows it!
Cmon, its 2008. Vices are supposed to be both healthy and discreet.
Sorry if I flubbed the post. There is no easy way to scroll the text box on an iPhone.
I’m so glad the smokers are sent “packing.” To the big tobacco lobbyist JCM, smoking and drinking aren’t the same. I chose to drink, if you smoke I’m forced to breathe your 2nd hand smoke. Or of course I could just leave but why should I have to leave when it’s your actions that are infringing on my enjoyment? Back in the day, I used to carry a whistle with me if I was going out to eat at a nice restaurant. If cigarette smoke from a nearby table was bothering me, I’d blow my whistle in their direction. This would always escalate into me getting thrown out. How is the sound of the whistle any more damaging than the smoke I had to put up with? I didn’t see any rules that said no whistle blowing (save your jokes).
Not only do smokers ruin my lungs, they ruin my clothes and my wallet. How much could I have saved on dry-cleaning if this rule was enacted years ago. To the smokers: Kiss My Butt!!!
Missing Dots I hope you don’t drive a car with an internal combustion engine. I am forced to breathe your smoke.
I am not a smoker, but if I don’t want to smell like smoke, I don’t go to a place that allows it.
If I don’t want to see a chick flick, I don’t go to a theater that is showing one.
If I don’t like country music, I don’t go to a Tim McGraw concert.
It’s not rocket science people. Ban smoking in public places and allow privately owned establishments to choose their own fate. N
Next thing you know they will be banning smoking in multifamily housing because the neighbors can smell it. Ever lived next to a person from India and walk by their door when they are cooking?
About three years ago JR’s Bar and Grill (the gay humperdinks)on Cedar Springs, put a “smoke-free” lounge upstairs. It wasn’t used much, but all those queens that hate smoke could drink in there and cruz people through the window…Leave it to the Dallas gays to trail blaze and be ALL accommodating.
I’m all for allowing bars to make their own choices regarding what they will and will not allow and for people to make their own choices of where they will and will not go.
There are positives and there are negatives.
Negatives:
I am a non-smoker, but I freaking love me some smokey, danky dive bars. It adds character for sure.
Positives:
there are NO negative effects on businesses people!! A FEW angry smokers will quit going to the Lakewood Landing but other then that, hardly one business will be closed down purely on a account of the smoking bans.
“Progressive cities like L.A. and New York….”
My pregnant wife and I went to New York City in May. Since smoking isn’t allowed in any establishment in NYC, guess where all the smokers end up. On the streets. So instead of knowing where the smokers are and being able to avoid them, we had to walk through their clouds of smoke continuously as we walked around the city. This is the perfect example of the foresight of “progressives.” You’ve really done a lot of good for public health by pushing the smokers out into the masses and exposing everybody (including kids and pregnant women) on the street to their smoke. If smokers were allowed in bars, they could congregrate together and the public would have prior knowledge about where they could and couldn’t go to avoid smoke. Instead, the government is gonna continue down the path of more and more restrictions. It wouldn’t surprise me if cigarettes were illegal by 2020.
James, honey, do you go to the gay bars a lot?
@ James
Actually all of Caven’s bars (S4, JR’s and Sue Ellen’s) offer non-smoking areas of their bars. It’s great, non-smokers have a place to enjoy their drinks as do non-smokers. It’s a perfect example of companies accommodating everyone. They should have the option of doing that, not having the city tell them how to run their business.
@MIssing Dots
There are many non-smoking bars and every bar in a restaurant is non-smoking. You have many options as to where to get a drink and not deal with cigarette smoke without this law, if the law is passed smokers will have no place to get a drink and light up.
Who’s rights are being infringed on?
And let me add, you have absolutely no “right” to go into a bar. Bars are private establishments and can serve whomever they want as long as they aren’t discriminating against a legally protected class. A bar can say you can only enter if you are wearing purple shoes, can spell your name backwards or even smoke a cigarette and are fully within their right to do so. You have the right not to patronize the establishment if you don’t like their rules.
GURL…Please!
I should have just had JCM write the post.
*sighs, and wipes Diet Coke off my monitor again*
When will I learn to not take a sip before I read?
SB – Cigarettes will never be illegal because the govt uses them for tax revenue
Be…
O/T
Topic is smoking, not who attends gay bars.
Yes sir, ma’am, you, person….
Good try snoopy. That argument makes sense if “government” wasn’t already making it harder for people to smoke. There are local, state and federal laws against smoking.
Seems like a conflict of interest for the government to profit off an action that they deem so harmful.
That’s just me though.
is it 4:20 yet????
Somewhere. Let’s go.
SB,
You were in NYC. What did you expect? Blue skies and Butterflies? I’m experiencing the same thing on the streets od DTD at noon lunch rush and anytime I walk the streets.
Robb,
I know it’s hard to believe but chick flicks and young country won’t passively kill you or your loved ones. Smoking could.
I love the smell of indian spices,My neighbors were Indian so yes I’m familiar with said smell. I’ll get down with that crew anytime.
Until then you all know where you can stick those hideous cigarettes.
In our mouths?
What is the real issue to most of you? That you won’t be allowed to smoke in bars or that the government is telling business owners how to operate? Why are smokers so entitled that I have to make choices based on where they congregate? Shouldn’t everyone be allowed to visit establishments without negative health implications?
John Charles – to respond to your comment about “rights”, smokers don’t have a “right” to smoke everywhere either.
The law is in place to protect the people who work there. I know you’re going to argue that these people should find somewhere else to work if they don’t want to be around smoke but the law doesn’t work that way. Heck, the workers should have been receiving hazard pay all these years.
I guess VAL at The STARCK will be out of business.
I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most,
But to have one without a cigarette
Is a thought I can not host.
They could of course make it up to all of us by allowing us to take our drinks outside ala the Big Easy.
Considering how many cell phone addicts are anti-smoking, one wonders why I should have to suffer radiation because of your addiction?
EP,
You missed my point all together. By banning smoking in bars because of health reasons, New York moved smokers from a place where they could congregate to together to a place where everyone has to experience their habit. I can avoid going into a smoky bar. I can’t avoid walking down the street. Just let smokers have safe havens where they can go and enjoy their habit. It’s their right. And I’ll have the right to not go to those places. It’s a pretty simple concept.
@Missing Dots
Smokers are not entitled, business owners are. It is their decision if they want to allow smoking, many do not.
Is smoking harmful? Absolutely, I bet are a lot of the decisions you make are too. It is your right to make them.
And EP, you missed my point as well. I do believe there should be bars where non-smokers can go, as well as bars that smokers frequent. I just don’t understand why people insist in trying to tell people how to run their own businesses because they don’t like the health risks involved. Shouldn’t we stop selling alcohol because drunk drivers kill? Shouldn’t we stop selling guns because people use them to kill? Shouldn’t we stop driving because the smog it causes puts a cloud over LA?
Stop the smoking in restaurants. Make bars pay for the right to allow cigarette smoking, and make them mark their establishment as “smoker friendly” as Zac suggested.
As somebody who cannot stand the smell of cigarettes or the diseases caused by second hand smoke, I still say over correction is not necessary.
How many of your current employers allow smoking in the office (excluding bar and restaurant people)? Why aren’t you all up in arms that you aren’t allowed to smoke at work? Isn’t the government telling private business how to run their operations? How is this any different?
it’s simple. outlaw cigarettes.
let me check, is smoking LEGAL?
yes.
so i will expect an opportunity to smoke. and i am a polite smoker. i don’t smoke at a family’s or friend’s house if they are non-smokers; i don’t smoke in my OWN house.
otherwise, it IS my right to smoke wherever i wish.
private business means just that. private. godbless the american way of life and “free-enterprise” and democracy…
right.
if smoking is so offensive OUTLAW IT OUTRIGHT.
but i guess the argument there would be i should be able to drink and drive since drinking is legal.
who knows.
missing dots:: “that” was the point you were missing in your analogy.
Missing dots-It’s differnt because people don’t choose to go to work..most have too.
James – You’re missing the point. The law is enacted to protect the health of the people working at the bars/restaurants.
*bangs head slowly on desk*
OMG! I usually like your post Missing Dots! But your point is flawed. It should be about choices, If you hate smoke then don’t work in a bar! This blog has officially pushed me over the edge! It’s made me decide to go to the third floor of Mi Co HP after work to drink mambo’s and smoke! ATTENTION: To all who read this…If you don’t like cigarette smoke then stay the hell away from Mi Cocina from 6-9 this evening! Consider this your only and final warning! GOOD GRIEF!
To us non-smokers, cigarette smoke is disgusting. But trust me, we aren’t all a-holes about it.
Missing Dots – it’s also unhealthy to be stressed about your job, but you can’t outlaw work.
Besides, if you want to use that argument, we are back to Snuffer’s Cheese Fries. They are full of fat and cholesterol, but it isn’t against the law to share them with your children. People are smart enough to know that if they want their kids to eat healthy…..they don’t take them to Snuffers. So, if you don’t want to breathe smoke, don’t frequent bars that allow smoking.
Missing dots for the win!
SB, No one can avoid walking down the street. Do you think folks who smoke in bars aren’t going to smoke on the street too?
Looks like James and Mr Mckee knows all the best places to suck on a fag. See what I did there…
RS-Are you calling me an a-hole?
EP-That was funny. people think that 10% of the pop is gay. Look at this post. 2 out of 20…
EP,
You’re retarded. You don’t get my point at all. The point is banning smoking in bars doesn’t affect public health in the least bit. It’s just a tactic to distract quacks like you from focusing on issues that actually matter. God, I wish I could come to your office and smoke a pack of Reds in your cube right now.
easy SB, it’s almost the 4th…
Ps. Change my count from 2 to 3 out of 20.
I’m so confused. I need to lie down.
I think everyone’s missing the real point.
Smoking is awesome.
Thank you Zac!
Then why have you tried to quit Zac?
Missing Dots-It’s part of it. As a non-smoker you would not understand. My quit date is July 7th. Until then…I’ll be chaining it!
Missing Dots: Because it’s expensive, my kid and wife hate it, and it’s expensive.
I don’t eat meat, but I still think a Cuban sandwich from Jimmy’s is fantastic.
Smoking is awesome. If you can’t understand that, read the article by David Sedaris from The New Yorker online. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_sedaris
James, actually I do understand. I was a smokeless tobacco user for over 13 years, going thru about 1 can a day. Luckily I was able to quit cold turkey and honestly haven’t had a single craving since. I decided to quit on the day my great-grandmother passed away (not from tobacco). I believe her looking out for me from above has been why I had such an easy time quitting.
James, considering the amount of smokers, I’d say the ratio is about 18 out of 20 people that gay. Why else would these people have an oral fixation for sucking on a stick?
@ Kick the butt-that was gay
I sure did go to Mi Co last night and lit up a smoke, the people on the left side said, “oh good another smoker” the people on the right side said, “oh I didnt know people could smoke up here” they left. It was awesome!
by the end of the night..it was a total smoking zone.
nothing like being a proud jack-ace.
Better then a bumb-ace. happy 4th of July..
Smoke’em if you got’em!
To all non-smokers – I am so happy that you have never smoked or have been able to quit successfully. For all the smokers I wish you luck if you have made the choice to stop. For all the addicted who don’t intend to quit – more power to you. We all deserve to live our lives in the manner that we choose. Non-smokers have been and continue to be relentless in having it all their way. Non-smokers rights stop where smokers rights begin and vice versa. I don’t need the government telling me how to live my life. If I decide to step off of the curb nto oncoming traffic that is my choice. What happened to the part of the Constitution where it says I have the right to purse life, liberty and the persuit of happiness. I am not happy with the way I am being treated. WAhile I am extremely courteous with my smoking, I am not at all happy that I am being discriminated against. In eliminating smoking totally in private establishments I have been told that I don’t have any constitutional rights. We segragated schools. How aboutmaking comprimises so that everyones needs are met. Right now it is all one sided. I stand in the rain to smoke. Why not march all of the Non-Smokers outside into the rain while I sit in the breakroom and have a cigarette and a cup of coffee. Now Non-Smi=okers how would you like that?? You wouldn’t and would be raising hell. The smokers have gone outside in an attempt to appease you, but that is not enough anymore. Now you must be 20 feet away from the door, or stand in the middle of the parking lot, or if you work for some employers you have to stand in the street as the have banned smoking any where on their primises. I think that everyone who talks on a cell phone at work needs to go stand in the middle of the street and make their call rain or shine. Or how about everyone who eats salads for lunch. One day the oppressed will rise and revolt. I will be at the front of the line, because I am sick and tired of the Non-Smoking public thinking that their rights are more important than mine. What ever happened in live and let live??
I like to smoke while I drink (beer). If I can’t, I might be liable to make hasty use of my new concealed license.
Look- I don’t go to the rodeo, because I’m not a cowboy. So if you don’t smoke, don’t go to the bars. Easy breezy fo’ sheezee.
What happened to the politicians listening to EVERYONE and representing EVERYONE and their rights. I am so sick of bleeding heart liberals and lawyers and crooked judges that won’t stand up and tell these pukes to just shut the F–k up and mind their own business. If you don’t want to smell or breath second hand smoke, then DON’T GO THERE. Stay out of my business. I don’t tell you to smoke, so don’t tell me not to or where I can and can’t.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that everything is going so well in Chicago that the City Council has the time to take up matters like “Smoking in a play”. How are Gun sales or the public school budget or the city budget? Glad things are going good! STOP THOSE SMOKERS, SAVE THE CITY!