Smoking Ban

As I put on my coat this morning I nearly gagged. I had dinner at Sedgwick's last night and the coat reeked of stale smoke. It was out and out disgusting. But today is the December 4th. Only 28 more days, counting today, for smokers to light up in bars. As of January 1, no more smoking in any work place in the state of Illinois!!! It can't come soon enough.

A lot of people who have been and continue to be against the ban, including the restaurant association, claim that the ban will hurt business. In fact, most evidence from California and other places with bans is that business does just fine and even increases. But by the middle of January look for an out cry about loss of business. The restaurant association will be jumping up and down and their lobbyists will be calling state senators and representatives calling for a repeal. And they'll provide sales numbers showing a decrease. When you hear this keep this in mind, January is the slowest month for restaurants and bars. Always has been. Always will be. People spend so much money for the holidays and new year celebrations that they lay low for several weeks. The same thing happened in some southwest suburbs last year (Orland Park I think) and the local communities repealed their bans.

Hopefully, our state representatives will be have the testicular verility to stand up to these calls and keep the ban in place. Everyone, including the businesses, will be better for it.