Smoking ban working fine the way it is

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By The Lincoln Journal Star

The sky did not fall on Lincoln. The economy of the restaurant industry did not crumble. Bars did not go out of business en masse.

Dire predictions from opponents of the city’s smoking ban appear to have gone up in smoke in the nine months since the ban went into effect.

A random survey shows Lincoln residents overwhelmingly support the city’s smoking ban — and they believe it has made bars and restaurants healthier places to drink and dine. Of those surveyed:

n Nearly 72 percent support the Smoking Regulation Act, which was passed by 62 percent of voters in November.

n 85 percent said they went to a bar as much or more often since the ban went into effect.

n 89 percent said they’ve gone to restaurants as much or more often.

The survey of 982 residents was done by the Nebraska Health and Human Services System’s regulation and licensure section of data management to gauge support for the city’s smoking ban.

And based on the survey, the results for most Lincolnites are as clear as the air we now breathe in our restaurants and bars.

n 91 percent of those surveyed now consider restaurants and bars healthier.

n 73 percent of those who smoked also felt bars and restaurants are healthier since the ban.

Michael Carpenter, owner of Libations, Too, at 5310 S. 56th St., summed up the impact on his business this way in an article earlier this week in the Lincoln Journal Star: “I think the smoking ban has cost us customers, it has grown some customers for us and it has changed the way customers behave.”

Still, some owners claim serious financial hardships because of the ban, and a few even say it’s put them out of business. There’s no doubt the ban could have pushed some businesses with fragile customer bases and shaky business plans over the edge.

But with the already cyclical nature of bars and restaurants — today’s hot hangout can become tomorrow’s ghost bar based solely on the whims and changing moods of customers — that may be hard to prove.

But what we do know for a fact is that Lincoln’s smoking ban is working — in many different ways. Most bars and restaurants have made the adjustments needed and are doing quite well.

And despite periodic grumblings from City Council members that the ordinance might need to be modified, residents seem pretty happy with the way it’s working. If the politicians listen to those residents, they’ll keep the ban just the way it is.