By Eric Berman
10/26/2009
The City-County Council votes Monday night on closing nearly all the loopholes in the county's smoking ban. The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce is endorsing the measure.
The Chamber supported the many exceptions carved into the original ordinance, including bars, clubs and bowling alleys. President Roland Dorson says it was the only way to get something passed.
He sees a different landscape this year.
"As many as seven out of 10 folks in the metropolitan region are supportive of this," Dorson says. "We've advanced the ball a little bit, and people are willing now to consider far fewer exemptions."
The council could try to amend the ordinance further before a final vote, but the only surviving exemptions in the proposal at the moment are for cigar bars and hookah bars.
Some bar owners warn a smoking ban will hurt their business. Dorson says other places which have enacted bans haven't seen that. He maintains a smoking ban would make Indy more inviting for businesses or individual workers looking to relocate, by demonstrating the city is in tune with public health concerns.
Dorson points to surveys showing three out of four workers in the "Generation X" age group, rather than moving to wherever their career takes them, choose where they want to live before actually landing a job there.
» Indy Complete Smoking Ban Vote Tonight (10-26-09)
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