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Smoking ban on the table in Middleton
MIDDLETON -- Middleton could be the next Wisconsin community to broadly ban smoking.
The City Council's License and Ordinance Committee is expected to vote Wednesday to ban smoking in all public places and workplaces, starting Sept. 15.
The measure could come up for a final City Council vote in July. Wednesday's meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 7426 Hubbard Ave.
Smoking has already been prohibited in restaurants in Middleton since 1996. If the new proposal is ultimately approved by the City Council, Middleton would be the eighth Wisconsin community to ban indoor public and workplace smoking.
Last week Monona passed a ban that will go into effect June 1, 2009. Others that have taken similar action include Appleton, Beloit, Eau Claire, Madison, Menomonie and Shorewood Hills. Ashland, Fitchburg, Janesville, Kenosha, Oshkosh and Wauwatosa prohibit smoking in restaurants.
Middleton business owners, smoking ban advocates and city officials are staking positions. A key issue is whether two months -- from the potential July council approval to the September implementation -- gives businesses enough time to prepare.
Van Nutt, executive director of the Middleton Chamber of Commerce, went before the City Council last month, seeking more time. Nutt said he "spoke on behalf of common sense." September, he said, is "not a reasonable accommodation."
But Ron Biendseil, a member of the citizens group Smoke Free Middleton, said his group has collected between 500 and 600 signatures in support of a ban starting in September. Biendseil said the group sees no reason why businesses can't be ready by September with outdoor patios or other solutions.
"Most already have a protected area where they could easily arrange something, it would seem to me, with minimal cost and time," Biendseil said. "It doesn't look to us like an unnecessarily harsh or early implementation date."
Ald. James Wexler similarly called September "a very reasonable amount of time."
Wexler said businesses have already had "a good long time" to anticipate the shift.
"I don't want to see us delay this like they did in Monona," Wexler said. "I would not support it if it was a year out. It's embarrassing that we have taken as long as we have."
"You can easily adapt a business to this kind of change," Wexler added.
Dick Lyshek sees things differently. The owner of the Bristled Boar Saloon & Grill, 2611 Branch St., said a smoking ban would have a "devastating" effect on his business.
Lyshek said his other bar, Bull Feathers in downtown Madison, has seen business drop 30 to 40 percent since Madison banned smoking in 2005. Lyshek is also president of the Dane County Tavern League.
If ban advocates cared about public health, Lyshek said, they would give bar owners a clean-air threshold and allow them to install filters in their buildings to remove a specified amount of smoke toxin from the air.
"If they feel it is a public health risk, they should tell us at what level it's dangerous and give us a chance to apply that technology," Lyshek said. "But the people who are driving this don't necessarily care. They talk about public health, but it's more about controlling other people's lives, and making themselves feel good, than about giving us a chance to address the matter."
He called the proposed two-month timeline an "obnoxious assault" by ban advocates "who don't care that they would be putting people out of business."
"You can't build an outdoor area in weeks or months," Lyshek said. "It's takes a least a year of planning."
Ald. Steve Leo, chairman of the License and Ordinance Committee, said he expects more debate on the proposed Sept. 15 start.
Businesses are pushing for a later date, Leo said, and "I think there is a great deal of concern about the effect on the business community. I think many of us are mindful about giving them time to adapt."
"But there is a lot of push back from the other side, which wants to get it going as fast as possible," Leo said.
A public hearing is possible prior to the council vote, Leo said.
"I like giving people an opportunity to sound off," Leo said, although he said some ban advocates don't feel a hearing is necessary.
"They correctly feel the votes are there to pass it as soon as possible," without a hearing, Leo said.
Ald. Hans Hilbert, a member of the License and Ordinance Committee, said he's not convinced that Sept. 15 must be the start date. Hilbert said he would prefer a longer, more thorough debate with the end result a solidly crafted ordinance, rather than "rush this just to get something out there."
Hilbert said he would be OK with waiting a year.
"I would feel more comfortable, if it did need that much more time, that we took it and didn't rush into it," Hilbert said. "This is a very important ordinance. It's going to affect a lot of business owners."
File photo
A Middleton committee is expected to vote Wednesday to endorse a smoking ban in all public places and workplaces, starting Sept. 15.
