What's next?
Sadly the vote to amend the law created by Columbus City Council that outlawed all smoking, to allow it in bars has gone down to defeat. Strangely it lost worse then the vote to throw out the entire law back in November. I guess the old fogies that vote on “off” elections don’t like smoky bars. Of course I’m not at all aware of which bars it is that the AARP+ crowd is attending but that matters not now. Fascist bastards.
posted by Dublin Saab @ 11:11 PM
3 Comments:
Wow. And a landslide at that. Not what we were expecting at all. I just don't get it, though. Bar's that don't have kitchens are probably frequented by 60-70% smokers. Who on earth actually went out to vote to keep them from doing something that doesn't affect the voter? Perhaps taking and keeping away someone's rights is such a powerful thrill that it gets old people all excited. In any case, they guaranteed I'll never make another visit to Columbus in any season but Summer. Can they afford that? Sure. But I'd really rather spend my money elsewhere on principal rather than in a city that thinks I should freeze so the three non-smokers at the St. James can get their way over everyone else.
Can't fault the system, though. The referendum was all smokers could ask for. I'm sure there are more than 37,000 bar smokers in Columbus, as there are probably 200,000 smokers in the city. Be sure to ask them where they were that day as you stand outside the bar and freeze this December.
With a population of 800k your guess of 200k smokers should be about right. Therefore it was shear laziness that resulted in the defeat of issue 2. My harsh FB comment was just a continuing vent at City Council since this whole thing started by them impossing their will on us. But at this point it's over and done.
It will be interesting to see how the James fairs. Michelle says her numbers are lower in the warm months to begin with and now that people can begin to choose a bar with a patio vs. her place it's not going to help matters. By the time ComFest gets here we should have a better idea if she can make it.
I think Summer was always her slow time anyway, if I'm not mistaken. Patio season is going to gouge places like there and Brew-Stirs even more. Plus, now she has even less incentive to reopen the upstairs, as it will result in an infinite number of people filing up and down the stairs to go outside, which is a hassle and even more of a fire hazzard. That really sucks--I understand your frustration. Slap a nonvoting smoker for me next chance you get. You know I'd have gone with you if I was there or allowed (I'm registered here now).
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