Smoke-free environments are on the way for city businesses, and not everyone is happy about it.
Just ask Steve Weimer.
Weimer owns and operates three Springfield bowling centers that allow smoking when youth leagues are not in session.
“Typically, what we see is an immediate drop in business when they pass these things around the country,” said Weimer, who sits on the National Bowling Proprietors of America legislative committee and has been watching smoking-ban trends closely for about eight years.
On June 11, Springfield will join 454 U.S. municipalities with smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants and bars, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
As city businesses make preparations for compliance, Weimer is bracing for revenue declines at his Sunshine Lanes, Enterprise Park Lanes and Holiday Lanes.
Weimer said his peers who operate under smoking bans have experienced sales dips up to 10 percent and up to 20 percent in bar sales, as smoking customers gravitate outside the banned areas. While the effect of the ban remains to be seen, if Weimer’s sales drop, he said health insurance contributions or staff positions among his 85 full- and part-time employees would likely be cut.
The Springfield smoking ban, passed by 53 percent of city voters April 5, prohibits smoking in enclosed public places and limits smoking in hotels to 25 percent of rooms. A partial ban was on the books since 2003.
There were several exemptions in the 2003 ordinance. If liquor amounted to at least 50 percent of the profits, or if total liquor sales were $200,000 a year, restaurant owners could allow smoking. Restaurants that sold liquor also could provide a separate, ventilated area and establishments with fewer than 50 seats were included as exemptions.
A statewide proposal died in committee in Jefferson City earlier this year. Half of the states across the country have passed statewide bans on smoking in the workplace, according to the CDC. St. Louis city and county have bans in place, as does Kansas City. In St. Louis, there are exemptions for casinos, while K.C. includes exemptions for tobacco shops.
Citizens for Clean Air Springfield, which works closely with educational organization One Air Alliance, compiled more than 1,800 signatures to put the measure on the ballot in April after failing to win council approval last June. Exemptions added to the bill for private smoking clubs, bingo halls and others appeared to doom the proposal.
Weimer said the big money backing the campaign by Clean Air Springfield skillfully avoided a complete ban in hotels in the citywide smoking ban. According to Missouri Ethics Commission filings, Citizens for Clean Air Springfield raised more than $80,000, with only $640 coming from individuals. The remainder was contributed by American Cancer Society, ACS Cancer Action Network and American Heart Association.
Live Free Springfield, a group organized to fight the ban, raised more than $13,000, evenly split between businesses and individuals.
Most supporters of smoke-free workplaces are armed with health-risk data. The CDC reports that secondhand smoke causes about 46,000 heart disease deaths per year and 3,400 deaths are attributed to lung cancer among nonsmoking adults annually.
One Air Alliance spokesman and volunteer chairman Stephen Hall said the organization has received $70,000 from the Missouri Foundation for Health to help businesses comply with the law.
“We are producing some educational materials, which should be available in the coming weeks that just outline the benefits of a smoke-free workplace (and) resources available to employees who might express an interest in quitting smoking,” Hall said, adding that providing “No Smoking” signage for company’s to put near entrances would be a big part of the group’s efforts as June 11 approaches.
He said One Air Alliance would host seminars for businesses in early June, though the dates and times for those would not be set until mid-May. He said in most feedback he’s received, proprietors are realistic and just want to know the steps to comply with the law.
Simon Property Group’s Battlefield Mall is among more than 100 business supporters named at
www.oneairalliance.org.
General Manager Erik Fjeseth said the mall has been smoke-free since the early 1990s, and the law will have almost no impact on employees or visitors to the mall, which has between 140 and 160 businesses under roof at any given time.
“Our rules, as far as smoking is concerned, were already very close to what was passed,” Fjeseth said. “We’ll have some additional signage that we’ll add to comply with what was passed.”
Greg Walker, owner of LaQuinta Inn-South and Baymont Suites near Springfield-Branson National Airport, is a nonsmoker who fought the citywide ban citing threats to the tourism market.
“I’m against any kind of ban that could put Springfield on an uneven playing field,” said Walker, whose properties already were in compliance with the coming law. “People can make a choice in the state of Missouri. They can say, ‘If I have a convention that has a lot of smokers in it, I may go to Branson instead; I may go to Lake of the Ozarks instead.’”
Christian Hutson, co-owner of Just for Him men’s gift and tobacco shop which offers a smoking room, said he is expecting the new law to cut into his revenues by 20 percent to 40 percent. He is still weighing his options to address the business he’s expecting to lose, though he doubts now that he’ll move from 1334 E. Battlefield Road because he doesn’t want to break his multiyear lease.
“If we have to reduce costs, the easiest way to do that is to eliminate personnel,” Hutson said of his five employees. “That’s an unfortunate situation.”
Clean Air Springfield spokeswoman Carrie Reynolds said an exemption for businesses such as Hutson’s had been considered, but petitioners felt the proposed ordinance should be clearly written.
“There’s nothing that’s outlawing the sale of tobacco under this ordinance, it’s just not allowing people to sample it indoors,” Reynolds said. “(Just for Him) is located within a strip mall and the smoking that goes on there impacts the air filtration systems in the other businesses that adjoin it. What they are doing within their own business is not only impacting their health, but it’s impacting the health of surrounding businesses.”
At the bowling alleys, Weimer is hanging hopes on reaching new clientele.
“Maybe those who have stayed away due to smoke will come out and support us now,” Weimer said.[[In-content Ad]]
