CWNews
Ban Likely in Springfield Missouri
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- In a matter of weeks, smoking may be banned in all businesses in the city. An ordinance to prohibit lighting-up will be publicly debated at the next council meeting but the hot-button issue is already heating up.
For 15 years, cigar lovers have been smoking at the bar above Bijan's restaurant in downtown. The cigar lounge is so popular that there are rows of boxes where customers store their own stogies. "When they come out to dinner, they will come up here, grab [a cigar] out of their boxes and smoke it afterward," said Jeremy Reed, the co-owner Bijan's.
The option of smoking could soon end. A proposed city ordinance would ban smoking essentially in all indoor places in Springfield except for private homes. "We have a right to breathe clean air and that is the one thing that we are talking about here," said Katie Towns-Jeter of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.
Under the current ordinance, some businesses are exempt from a tobacco use ban because of how much liquor they sell. There would be virtually no exceptions under the proposed measure.
"We want this to be fair and equal," said Towns-Jeter, who belongs to a group that helped shape the ordinance.
She says a lot of businesses are on board with the ban because the owners feel it's unfair that some places are allowed to offer smoking while others cannot permit it. Should the measure pass, the co-owner of Bijan's says he'll carry on with the business as best he can without allowing tobacco use but he says the change could hurt his bottom line. "It will definitely take away our clique that we have been living off of for 15 years. It does make us special; we are one of two places in town that do offer that," said Reed.
The next council meeting for public debate is on Monday night at 6:30. There could be a vote on July 12.
Of the nine council members, four, including the mayor, are sponsors of this ordinance.
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