A Lakewood, Wash., casino (with restaurant and bar) has laid off 15 employees since the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health's new smoking regulations went into effect in earnest Feb. 26. Managers say they will lay off 40 to 50 more if the business slump, which they blame on the ban, continues.
"My tips have gone down from $70 or $80 a day to less than $20," Tracy Willows said at the end of her shift, when she is shaking her head at the 20 bucks - if she's lucky - in her pocket and wondering if her pay will be enough to fill her gas tank, much less put food on the table or buy gym uniforms for her two kids.
Other bar and restaurant owners say they have fired employees or cut back hours because of sudden drops in revenue.
"All the things that we have said might happen are happening," said Linda Matson, executive director of the Entertainment Industry Coalition, which sued the county health department. (As reported by Jeffrey M. Barker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter)
Yes, there are areas in our country where business has improved after smoking bans, and everyone has figures to show, however ... this is not Seattle, Los Angeles or New York, this is Fargo North Dakota, where truck stop, casino and bar people are, for the most part, smokers. We are over 21; we may ride motorcycles, water ski, scuba dive, parachute, gamble and smoke. It's our business and our choice.
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The Moorhead 2 a.m. closing has hurt Fargo bars to the tune of thousands of dollars monthly. The new commission members have no idea how a smoking ban will hurt the Fargo bar business and do not care. How bad will it hurt?
Recently we had a "smoke free" night at the Northern. It was in The Forum ads three days, we had posters in our business, and we sent out three e-mails to over 2,000 regular customers about the smoke free night. We had it on a Thursday night and business was down over $800 compared to the average Thursday.
That will end up being around a quarter of a million dollars a year loss in revenue for our bar alone. The three members of our City Commission who want a total smoking ban in bars will be sending millions of dollars to Dilworth, Glyndon and other surrounding towns.
Let the Fargo Commission open a "city-owned" smoke-free bar, show us how well it works, prove your point. If it's about health, then push for a North Dakota/Minnesota law to ban the entire use and sale of tobacco products. Then see how it affects Minnesota and North Dakota to lose over $100 million a year in tobacco tax revenue.
People with non-smoking agendas have a right to express their views, and we respect that. But how can anyone have respect for Commission members who feel they have the right to make a decision that will financially damage my business, my freedom and the freedom of adults who live in this community?
Blair is promotions director for The Northern of Fargo. E-mail ROAD42@aol.com
