by Bridget Thoreson
Some local tavern owners disagree with a report claiming smoking bans don’t hurt business.
The
report was released Tuesday by Wisconsin Public Interest Research
Group, which supports a bill that would ban smoking in public
workplaces in Wisconsin. The Assembly Public Health Committee is
holding a public hearing on the bill today.
“The
findings were that the economic impacts are either neutral or positive
in communities that have adopted these policies,” said Bruce Speight,
public interest advocate for WISPIRG. “The report shows that we can
have smoke-free bars and a healthy economy.”
According
to the report, both requests for liquor licenses in Madison and
Appleton and the average assessed value of their business districts
have increased since those communities adopted smoking bans for bars
and restaurants.
In addition, the report states that
the studies that have concluded that smoking bans are bad for the
economy have been backed by the tobacco industry.
“These tales of economic ruin just don’t hold water; the evidence is just not there to back that up,” Speight said.
But
local tavern owners said such a law would hurt their business. Chuck
Brandt, owner of Buckets Pub, 2031 Lathrop Ave., said he would expect
to see business drop by 25 to 35 percent at first, maybe gaining 10 to
15 percent of that back over time.
“It’s
going to show an impact on us, no doubt about it,” Brandt said. “I know
from personal experience that smoking bans do not help.”
Brandt
said he noticed that he was getting new customers right away after
Kenosha banned smoking in restaurants in 2000. Now, he said, about 5 to
10 percent of his business comes from Kenosha.
Kelly
Vecits, owner of Kelly’s Bleachers II, 7805 Loomis Road in Wind Lake,
said he would rather see a statewide ban instead of more city
ordinances where customers can take their business to nearby places
without smoking bans.
He said he thinks the statewide ban would have the biggest affect on smaller bars, where smokers are the core of the business.
“You
got these people who put their lives into these establishments,” Vecits
said. “That’s the stuff that really goes down and hurts us.”
But
for other owners, there are some benefits to the proposed bill. Mike
Carmody, owner of Shillings Irish Pub, 611 Wisconsin Ave., said as a
nonsmoker he would appreciate it if his clothes did not stink after
working.
The pub’s customers
are about half smokers and half nonsmokers, he said, and he had been
considering going nonsmoking but wasn’t sure how much it would hurt his
business. People would simply need to adjust to the statewide ban, he
said.
“I am expecting a slowdown in business, like it’s happened everywhere,” Carmody said. “But people just get used to it.”
