(no subject)
Ugh.
This whole smoking ban in Pittsburgh bars thing has me really pissed off.
Well, it's more the debate that's going on around it that pisses me off than anything.
Look. I can understand if you don't smoke, this is going to seem like the best thing ever. I can even understand wanting restaurants and even some bars to be smoke-free. I don't like when smoke blows in my face while I'm eating, and I have a pack a day habit. But don't smokers deserve to have some places designated as safe for them? County council has discussed fining people who smoke in their own houses and cars, for crying out loud.
Let's see if I can get my point across through what I posted in a Pittsburgh group on Myspace, or even if I can get someone to think outside of the ashtray on this....
"
To be honest, I don't think I would care so much about it taking effect in restaurants. When I go out to eat, I don't usually sit there for a few hours, and I could wait until I got my check to go have a cigarette. One of my favorite restaurants is already smoke-free aside from the bar area.
I guess I'm looking at this more in the context of any local neighborhood bar, especially outside of the South Side. There are enough people who go there on a very regular basis that I doubt a smoking ban would effect business that much after the first couple of weeks to maybe a few months.
As far as I can tell from what I heard last night from my mom's bar's owner, this is only going to effect bars that make over ten percent of their revenue from food sales. But what a lot of people don't realize is that there are a lot of hole in the wall bars who do that in potato chip sales alone. Raise that percentage to fifteen or twenty percent and I'm sure there would be a lot less bitching going on because that would be a decent compromise.
Let's take this debate out of the South Side into places like Etna or Carnegie, who are still trying to recover from the flood two years ago, as this will be going county-wide. Most of those bars and restaurants can't afford to risk losing clienetle as they're still trying to get back on their feet and onto secure financial ground. And trust me, most places will see an initial loss of clientele, but most of you are right in saying it won't cause permanent loss. The problem is can most places like that survive that first drop off? I don't know. I know some of them won't because they're still paying off hefty loans from all of that. Most of those boroughs can't afford to lose more businesses because so many just shut down after that.
And to those of you who keep condeming smokers, realize what all they're already paying for because of the insane taxing that's going on. A good deal of that money goes back to fixing roads, health services and other things that this state generally couldn't afford without taxing everyone in this state to hell and back, which would piss everyone off. PennDot sucks already. Can you imagine how much worse it would be without the money they receive from all those nasty cigarette smokers?
I guess the point I've been trying to make is start looking at this on a broader level than coming home smelling like a cigarette. The effects of this are going to be a lot further reaching than some of you realize.
"
Ugh. Don't be dumb about this, because I have a feeling that's what's going to happen come Tuesday when it comes time to vote on this.
This whole smoking ban in Pittsburgh bars thing has me really pissed off.
Well, it's more the debate that's going on around it that pisses me off than anything.
Look. I can understand if you don't smoke, this is going to seem like the best thing ever. I can even understand wanting restaurants and even some bars to be smoke-free. I don't like when smoke blows in my face while I'm eating, and I have a pack a day habit. But don't smokers deserve to have some places designated as safe for them? County council has discussed fining people who smoke in their own houses and cars, for crying out loud.
Let's see if I can get my point across through what I posted in a Pittsburgh group on Myspace, or even if I can get someone to think outside of the ashtray on this....
"
To be honest, I don't think I would care so much about it taking effect in restaurants. When I go out to eat, I don't usually sit there for a few hours, and I could wait until I got my check to go have a cigarette. One of my favorite restaurants is already smoke-free aside from the bar area.
I guess I'm looking at this more in the context of any local neighborhood bar, especially outside of the South Side. There are enough people who go there on a very regular basis that I doubt a smoking ban would effect business that much after the first couple of weeks to maybe a few months.
As far as I can tell from what I heard last night from my mom's bar's owner, this is only going to effect bars that make over ten percent of their revenue from food sales. But what a lot of people don't realize is that there are a lot of hole in the wall bars who do that in potato chip sales alone. Raise that percentage to fifteen or twenty percent and I'm sure there would be a lot less bitching going on because that would be a decent compromise.
Let's take this debate out of the South Side into places like Etna or Carnegie, who are still trying to recover from the flood two years ago, as this will be going county-wide. Most of those bars and restaurants can't afford to risk losing clienetle as they're still trying to get back on their feet and onto secure financial ground. And trust me, most places will see an initial loss of clientele, but most of you are right in saying it won't cause permanent loss. The problem is can most places like that survive that first drop off? I don't know. I know some of them won't because they're still paying off hefty loans from all of that. Most of those boroughs can't afford to lose more businesses because so many just shut down after that.
And to those of you who keep condeming smokers, realize what all they're already paying for because of the insane taxing that's going on. A good deal of that money goes back to fixing roads, health services and other things that this state generally couldn't afford without taxing everyone in this state to hell and back, which would piss everyone off. PennDot sucks already. Can you imagine how much worse it would be without the money they receive from all those nasty cigarette smokers?
I guess the point I've been trying to make is start looking at this on a broader level than coming home smelling like a cigarette. The effects of this are going to be a lot further reaching than some of you realize.
"
Ugh. Don't be dumb about this, because I have a feeling that's what's going to happen come Tuesday when it comes time to vote on this.