City Council: Smoking Inside Good, Smoking Outside Bad

City Council passed legislation amending the smoking ban yesterday. You see, here in Philadelphia we can’t just have a simple smoking ban, we have to have a sort of “in flux” smoking ban that changes every couple of months.

The vote, which passed 15-2, does two things:

• Allows “neighborhood taverns” to apply for permanent exemptions, rather than temporary ones, and also ups the cap as to what qualifies as a “neighborhood tavern” to less than 20 percent of revenue from food.
• Bans smoking at outdoor sidewalk cafes.

Mayor Street wanted that second one, saying that the exemption for sidewalk cafes troubled him, so it seems likely he’ll sign the bill. Of course, if he signs the bill, that means smoking outside at restaurants will be illegal, but smoking inside could be legal. Unless, I suppose, the neighborhood tavern has a sidewalk cafe!

Pretty soon the law will be amended to say that smoking inside is okay if the bar makes less than 40 percent of its revenue from food and has no less than three (3) moose heads on the walls and sells $2 Molsons during Flyers games. Smoking at sidewalk cafes will be okay if the drinks served come with little umbrellas and the restaurant’s name contains more than 3 vowels but less than 7.

City Smoking Ban Exemption Overwhelmingly Approved [NBC 10]
Archives: Smoking Ban