Cincinnati considers banning smoking
Advocates say the bans do not hurt businesses.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Vice Mayor Alicia Reece said she planned to ask the city council to create a panel to investigate the possibility of a workplace smoking ban.
"Many businesses are already going smoke-free, so let's see what direction the private sector is going and then assess if it is necessary to have a ban," Reece said.
Placing new restrictions on smoking in the workplace was a topic at a recent conference involving the mayors of Ohio's six largest cities, Reece said. It's an issue that Cincinnati can't ignore, she said.
Advocates say smoking bans protect employees and customers from exposure to secondhand smoke and that the bans do not hurt business.
"Show me the evidence. Every other place in the country with smoke-free legislation continues to have a thriving bar and restaurant industry," said Ahron Leichtman, executive director of Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Society in Cincinnati.
Who has bans
Five states -- New York, California, Delaware, Connecticut and Maine -- and 72 cities had imposed indoor-smoking bans as of January, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cincinnati Health Commissioner Malcolm Adcock has stopped short of calling for a smoking ban. But, like Reece, he wants the community to start talking about it.
Some council members say a smoking ban is not a priority and fear that smokers would go to bars and restaurants across the Ohio River in Newport and Covington, Ky.
"I don't think a smoking ban is high on anybody's list of things to tackle," said Councilman David Crowley, whose family owns a bar in Cincinnati.
"I certainly think smoking is a health problem -- I used to smoke," Crowley said. "But at the same time, I think smokers need a place where they can go."
Toledo and Columbus
Toledo banned smoking in the workplace last year.
A group called SmokeFree Columbus hopes to present a clean indoor air proposal by mid-June to lawmakers in that city and surrounding suburbs, said Dr. Rob Crane, an assistant professor of family medicine at Ohio State University and the group's co-chairman.
Earlier this month, a government advisory panel recommended that Cleveland City Council outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants, workplaces and most other indoor public areas.