But he believes the city is a healthy home for business and is opening new places to eat and drink Downtown.

A Madison native, Haltinner was a pioneer in remaking the once-seedy King Street area into a showcase for cool nightspots and restaurants.

He has frustrations with the city and its rules, and he sympathizes with blue-collar bars on the city's borders that have struggled under the smoking ban. But he doesn't think the city is anti-business.

It's important, however, to balance the City Council's "utopian view" with fairness and practicality, he said.

"There has to be a broader understanding on the council that, as much as you'd like Madison to be an example, you're putting a lot of small businesses on the front line," he said.

Haltinner, a UW-Madison graduate, helped open the original Opera House bar on Pinckney Street in 1994. His first frustration with the city came in having to move the bar two years later to make way for a redevelopment project. "We didn't get much assistance," he said.

After opening a larger, more upscale - and voluntarily smoke-free - Opera House on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Haltinner and his partners created a complementary establishment nearby - the cigar bar Maduro at 117 E. Main St.

The mandatory smoking ban enacted in 2005 hit Maduro hard. The council narrowly allowed an exemption this spring.

Haltinner's confidence in the city's business climate never wavered. In November 2005, he opened Cocoliquot, a sophisticated restaurant featuring wines and chocolates, at 225 King St. He gave no thought to opening in Fitchburg or Middleton.

Next, he will open Papavero, a modest-priced Italian place around the corner on East Wilson Street.

"Complaints about Madison being anti-business are short-sighted," he said. "Madison has a lot of intangible stuff that makes it very attractive to business."

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