Rendell Signs Statewide Smoking Ban

Yes, it’s official: Gov. Ed Rendell has signed a statewide smoking ban, according to a release from his office. It’ll take effect in 90 days; like the Philadelphia ban, bars that make 20 percent or less of their revenue from food can apply for an exemption.

The bill will also allow smoking in nursing homes (it’s ageist!), on sections of casino floors and in private clubs. Oh, and you can still smoke in your own home, but you all know they’re coming after you next.

Update: Also in Pennsylvania news, a woman who claims Michael Jordan fathered her child (he didn’t) has been barred from contacting him again.

Punk Kids Ruining Bars Now, Too

With the smoking ban in place since whenever the second version of the bill went into effect — early January? — our bars are now free of the lung cancer and everyone just goes outside to smoke. Or something like that; all my science knowledge comes from episodes of Beakman’s World I’m only half paying attention to.

But since it is now illegal to smoke in bars, a much more sinister pollutant has wafted into our city’s restaurants. I’m speaking, of course, of children.

Yes, lots of parents now bring their kids to good old fashioned bar/restaurants — the ever popular gastro-pub — instead of going to Denny’s. And while this means business is up, it also means there are punk kids in Standard Tap, Monk’s and probably even Dirty Frank’s. Okay, probably not Dirty Frank’s.

And the kids are, apparently, not just annoying punk kids. They’re super-smart kids, perhaps from Baby’s Day Out or that creepy movie where the babies become geniuses (Baby Geniuses?). The co-owner of the Standard Tap says it’s like, European, man: “In Europe, bars are part of the community, and we are, first and foremost, a community place. And I’m impressed with kids who come to our place. They order food with autonomy and knowledge. There are a lot of pretty sophisticated kids in the area.”

And, as usual, the Philly.com comments sum up my reaction nicely:

It’s also a very European thing to leave your children in hotel rooms so their parents go out drinking with other couples when everyone is on ‘holiday’. That ended great for that kid Madeline.

See? Slippery slope. First our children are hanging out in bars, then who knows what happens next?

Smoking ban brings more kids to dinner [Inquirer]

Warning: This Post Contains Strong Language

Hey, remember that smoking ban everyone was all up in arms about for a while? Well, yeah, it looks like it’s not gonna matter at all! The Pennsylvania Senate yesterday pretty much decided the state is going to have a smoking ban, but there will be tons of exemptions. Oh, and it overrides all local laws, so Philadelphians will indeed be free to smoke in parts of casinos.

The bill’s exemptions are for restaurants where food makes up less than 25 percent of sales, cigar bars (probably the most sensible exemption), a quarter of casino floor areas and, of course, “charitable fund-raisers where cigars are sold.”

This was quite a reasonable debate, of course, with the head of the ACS in Pennsylvania saying legislators were murdering thousands of people while legislators decided to come out against the bill with strong words.

Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny, called the exemptions “disgusting gobbledygook,” and Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said the changes were like “a pig in lipstick” being billed as a beauty queen.

Yes, that’ll show ‘em.

Senate acts to curb Phila. smoking ban [Inquirer]
Weaker Pa. version would override city’s smoking law [Metro]

People Actually Think Pa. Smoking Ban Will Pass

Some state legislators are hoping to join the entire state along with Philadelphia in in a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Hopefully, the bill will not have any exemptions for “neighborhood taverns,” which will make City Council scramble to find another loophole and prevent them from declaring this city pro-life or pro-choice again.

The bill, sponsored by Montgomery County’s Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, would currently ban smoking in any workplace and public space in Pennsylvania. Never fear, smokers! Hordes of lobbyists have descended on Harrisburg and are all hoping to make sure you can smoke in cigar shops and casinos and wherever else the tobacco companies want you to.

Twenty-seven other states have a ban of some sort, while the biggest hang-up so far in Pennsylvania appears to be… well, what else?

“There are amendments flying every which way and the biggest debate is over the casinos,” said Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny.

Can that be the casinos new motto? “The casino! Lose all your money and die.”

A statewide ban? [AP/Metro]

This Is Sure To Improve Morale Among Inquirer, Daily News Employees

From a memo sent to all Inquirer building employees today:

Effective immediately, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC will be enforcing the new no-smoking ban adopted by the City of Philadelphia, which requires no smoking for up to 20 feet of a workplace entrance. Violators of this no-smoking ban are subject to fines by the City of Philadelphia ranging from $25.00-$300.00.

As a result of the aforementioned, all employees are asked to utilize the following designated smoking areas:

• Broad Street breezeway located north of the main entrance, between 400 and 440 on Broad Street.
• Track –6 loading dock located beneath the building.
• 15th Street loading dock.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Oh, I don’t know, Tierney. You don’t mess with Stu Bykofsky. You’re lucky he’s probably still on a high from seeing Babar or whoever leave the Philadelphia Zoo.

[Original photo by Brad Maule, Phillyskyline]

Well, They Blew Up The Chicken Man In Philly Last Night. Now, Okay, No, They Didn’t.

While speaking with anti-smoking advocates who had helped push through a New Jersey-wide smoking ban, state Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said he had fined various casinos for violating the smoking ban.

Although smoking is permitted on gambling floors in Jersey — although Atlantic City Council recently passed a local ordinance restricting smoking to just one-quarter of the gambling spaces — it’s not allowed in restaurants and other non-gambling casino areas.

The only problem with Jacobs’ assertion, though, is that it happened to be not true at all. In actuality, zero casinos have been fined for violating the smoking ban! Jacobs says he “told the truth” and he told an aide to direct the AC Health Dept. to issue the citations and it didn’t follow through.

Of course:

But Ronald Cash, director of the Atlantic City Health Department, insisted his staff had never heard from anyone from Jacobs’ office about fining casinos. “We have not gotten any calls about fining the casinos,” Cash said. “When we get a complaint, we respond to them. At this point, we have not had enough evidence to produce citations against anybody.”

Who will win this bureaucratic showdown? The Health Comissioner or the AC Health Department! I don’t know, but I bet it will take a lot of paperwork to find a winner.

Smoking ban celebrated, but casinos draw activists’ notice [Camden Courier-Post]

Banner Day For Smoking Ban

Now that the smoking ban is back in full force, it’s time for the smoking ban to do what smoking bans do best: Fine people in order to pay the inspectors in charge of enforcing the smoking ban.

The Daily News‘ Mark McDonald reports that 16 different bars were cited Tuesday, with 23 inspectors visiting 586 bars and restaurants. And, of course, here’s what you’re looking for: The list of bars cited.

• Danny Boy’s Bar & Grill, 1559 E. Hunting Park Ave.
• J.C. Tavern, 2601 E. Venango St.
• Red Door Tavern, 5912 Germantown Ave.
• The Pro’s Lounge, 6332 Germantown Ave.
• Del Mar Lounge, 304 W. Chelten Ave.
• Mermaid Lounge, 6745 Germantown Ave.
• Tek Good Luck, 2225 Ridge Ave.
• Snapper Head Cafe, 2126 E. Lehigh Ave.
• Blarney Stone Tavern, 2634 E. York St.
• Kelly Ann’s [Kellianne's. —ed.] Tavern, 4333 Spruce St.
• Casbar, 5568 Spruce St.
• Scotter’s Pub, 3800 Lancaster Ave.
• Doyle’s Corner, 3000 Market St.
• Commodore Lounge, 5507 Baltimore Ave.
• DiNic’s Tavern, 1528 Snyder Ave.
• East Side Saloon, 1825 E. Moyamensing Ave.

So, hey, here’s a bunch of bars you can smoke in. Sweet!

Smoking ban gets teeth as city tickets 16 pubs [Daily News]

Half Hour Left To Legally Cough In Bars

Hey, everybody, you can smoke for another 35 minutes or so! Yes, the dreaded smoking ban goes back into effect for real this time, but the Inquirer’s Patrick Kerkstra writes the ban won’t be enforced until this afternoon.

The original ban went into effect on Sept. 15, pretty much immediately after John Street signed it, after approximately a 200-year battle to enact one. Nobody really enforced anything, though, and everyone continued to smoke inside bars on Christian Street or wherever.

Then, in December, council passed an even more confusing smoking ban that upped the percentage of food restaurants could sell to remain smoke-free to 20 percent but banned smoking outside in outdoor cafes. That law repealed the old smoking ban but goes into effect today, just in time for temperatures to drop into the 40s!

The Inky’s Kerkstra interviews a few bartenders, including Flip Hassell, who is opposed to the smoking ban.

“It’s part of being a bartender. There’s drinking, there’s smoking, you have to throw guys out. It’s part of the job.”

Just wait until the throw-guys-out ban gets passed later this year.

Smoking ban back - for real this time [Inquirer]
Archives; Smoking Ban

Keystone Cops: Dead Man Walking

Keystone Cops is a look at police, crime, court, drug and public safety news.

• Saddam Hussein will be dead by this time tomorrow. [AP/Yahoo!]

• A man, quite possibly a Barbaro hater, stole a collection can with $200 from a 7-Eleven in Buxco . The money was supposed to go to a group that rehabilitates sick horses. Actual quote: “It’s hard enough to steal from anybody but to steal from a charity… the poor defenseless animals can’t even speak for themselves.” [CBS 3]

• Atlantic City Council is expected to vote today on a smoking ban for the island’s casinos that would blah blah blah you know how this works already. No more smoking in casinos. [AP/6 ABC]

• And, from the crime log of the Doylestown Intelligencer: “At 9:37 a.m. Sunday, police received a call from Northampton police who asked them to go to a house on the 2000 block of Jason Drive to question a man about his 2001 Chevy S-10 pickup. No one was home.” [Intelligencer]

Smoking Ban Repealed (For Three Weeks)

Hurrah! It took only a few months, but the City of Philadelphia has repealed the smoking ban — for three weeks.

Mayor Street signed a bill that effectively repealed the ban until Jan. 8, because… yeah, no idea. (If I had to guess, I’d say it has something to do with Michael Nutter. Or this city being run by people only slightly more competent than the leaders of Burma.)

But I guess, since we’ve all been smoking outside of Locust Bar for about four months, it’s time for a three-week break! Most restaurants are planning on enforcing the ban during the three-week break, and the city is encouraging them to, but you know that certain bars had the ashtrays out right after Johnny lifted his pen off the bill.

The exemptions for “neighborhood taverns” and the ban on smoking at sidewalk cafes, where smoking is much more dangerous than inside a small corner tavern, also go into effect on Jan. 8.

Until then, though, smoking is legal inside! Get your last comfortable puffs of smoke now, before it’s mid-January and you’re smoking a cigarette in 20-degree weather, cursing Michael Nutter’s name with every breath.

Philadelphia Smoking Ban Lifted for 3 Weeks [6 ABC]