Get your copy of our weekly print products at any of these convenient locations.

Monona smoking ban OK'd, will go in effect June 1, 2009

Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  6/03/2008 7:59 am

MONONA -- Monona will go smoke-free on June 1, 2009.

The City Council voted 5-1 Monday night, with Ald. Jeff Wiswell dissenting, to ban smoking on that date in all indoor public places and workplaces.

Monona becomes the seventh Wisconsin community to ban public smoking. Others include Appleton, Shorewood Hills, Menomonie, Madison, Eau Claire and Beloit.

Ashland, Fitchburg, Janesville, Kenosha, Oshkosh, and Wauwatosa less broadly prohibit smoking in restaurants.

A proposed statewide ban failed in the state Assembly in March.

The Monona ban will include private homes where child care, adult day care or health care is provided. Banned sites will also include elevators and enclosed city parking ramp stairwells; buses, taxis and other public transportation; child care facilities; retail stores; hospitals and clinics; meeting and conference rooms; polling places; laundromats; city buildings; indoor bars and restaurants; hotels; and schools.

Buildings must have at least one smoke-free entrance, and smoking won't be allowed within five feet of any entrance designated as smoke-free.

Two outdoor areas are also part of the ban: seating and concession areas of sports arenas and outdoor common areas of nursing homes. And the city parks department will have the power to declare any part of a public park smoke-free.

Existing cigar bars and tobacco stores will be exempt, as will be smoking-designated hotel rooms.

Monday night's vote followed nearly three hours of debate and testimony from more than two dozen citizens, business owners and health care professionals, who based on their comments appeared evenly divided on their support and opposition to the ban.

Efforts by some council members to increase from five to 15 feet the distance that smokers must remain away from entrances, and to exempt bars and restaurants until the Oct. 1, 2010, completion of the first phase of the reconstruction of Monona Drive, failed in divided votes. Some bar and restaurant owners have warned that not waiting until the end of the construction period to hit them with a smoking ban will be their death knell.

Wiswell, who unsuccessfully sought the 2010 date for bars and restaurants, said he struggled to balance public health concerns against business interests.

"I don't know how one trumps the other," Wiswell said.

The 2009 date was a compromise endorsed last week by an ad hoc committee that had been weighing a ban since March. It was also backed by Mayor Robb Kahl and Breathe Free Monona, a citizens group comprised of health care workers who had begun circulating petitions seeking a Nov. 4, 2008, smoking ban referendum.

Breathe Free Monona members said they heard overwhelmingly while passing petitions that citizens wanted a 2008 ban.

Had the referendum passed, the ban would have gone into effect in mid-November.

The ad hoc committee had been leaning toward a 2010 implementation. Ald. Bob Miller, who co-chaired the committee, convinced it go with 2009, saying if it did not side with the compromise the referendum was likely to pass. Businesses would then have only a few months to prepare.

The ad hoc committee, on Thursday night, unanimously voted to send the proposed ordinance to the council.

Miller also warned that a referendum would be divisive, putting the community through a difficult process akin to a 2006 middle school referendum.

Bitterness from that referendum has still not completely dissipated.

"I wanted to avoid a referendum that would pit businesses against customers, citizens against citizens," Miller said Monday night.

Kahl said Monday night that the compromise was an imperfect one "that makes everyone a little disappointed," but that seemed the best deal that could be reached.

Theresa Guilbert, a Monona resident and member of Breathe Free Monona, said after Monday's meeting that while she was "disappointed" that 15 feet was not designated as the distance smoking would be allowed from building entrances, she was otherwise satisfied.

"I think overall we're pleased that something passed," Guilbert said. "We look forward to patronizing city businesses on June 1."

Miller said some bars and restaurants may have a harder time than others under the ban.

"If only we had a crystal ball, wouldn't this be so easy," Miller said.

He urged Monona residents to support them once they go smoke-free.

Ald. Kathy Thomas, who has been on the council for nearly three decades and who co-chaired the ad hoc committee with Miller, said the smoking debate has been one of the most challenging periods of her tenure.

"It has been absolutely gut-wrenching," Thomas said.

Ald. Chad Speight called Monday night's decision "a true compromise" and said businesses will succeed if Monona residents support them.

"I look forward to the day when we have this in Monona," Speight said.

Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  6/03/2008 7:59 am