Members of the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition made their case Thursday for expanding Fayetteville’s smoking ordinance to include bars and taverns.
One of the city’s eight City Council members is also on board with trying to make the change a reality.
The current ordinance, which went into effect in 2004, bans smoking in restaurants and other workplaces, with the exception being establishments selling only alcohol or incidental foods, such as pretzels or popcorn.
State law prohibits smoking except in businesses where customers must be 21 or older.
“Sixty-four percent of registered voters in Fayetteville said, yes, they would support an ordinance ... that would make all bars and nightclubs in Fayetteville smoke-free,” said Page Daniel, a project coordinator for the coalition.
Daniel’s data was based on a 2011 survey of about 1,000 residents.
Tyler Clark, also with the coalition, pointed to an air quality study done in 28 Fayetteville bars earlier this year as evidence that places where smoking is allowed are less healthy.
The study, by New York-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute, compared air quality in 22 bars where smoking is permitted with five smoke-free bars and one smoke-free restaurant.
Clark said, on average, air pollution where smoking is permitted was 21 times higher.
Adella Gray, Ward 1 alderwoman, earlier this week asked City Attorney Kit Williams to draft an amendment to the city’s smoking ordinance removing the exemption for bars and taverns. Gray said two other council members, Matthew Petty of Ward 2 and Sarah Lewis of Ward 4, have offered to co-sponsor the amendment.
She said her reasoning behind the amendment is to make workplaces safer for bartenders, cocktail servers and performers who may be unwillingly exposed to smoke on a nightly basis.
“When we know that something’s as harmful as secondhand smoke, I think as a policy making person, it’s your responsibility to make the situation better,” Gray said.
To the argument business decisions, such as whether to allow smoking, are best left to the person who owns the business, Gray said there are clear cases where it’s in the city’s best interest to regulate certain activities.
“We’re not going to allow someone to open a meth-cooking establishment just because that’s something they want to do,” Gray said.
Her proposed amendment will likely not be considered by the council until later this spring.
One of Fayetteville’s bars that is smoke-free is the Smoke & Barrel Tavern at 324 W. Dickson St.
Sammie Stephenson, one of the owners of the tavern, said it hasn’t allowed smoking since opening in December 2008.
“It’s not that we have any moral qualms with it,” Stephenson said. “Two of our owners are smokers. It’s just good business and a much nicer environment.”
“I’ve worked in smoking bars for a long time before here,” he added, “and it’s a lot better for me (smoke-free).”
Chris Varga, who opened Sideways, also a nonsmoking establishment at 311 W. Dickson St., with wife Sarah in 2009, said the decision to make it nonsmoking was in part based on demand.
“We had enough people complaining about going home smelling like smoke,” Varga said.
The couple has also owned Ryleigh’s on Dickson Street, which allows smoking, for nearly seven years.
Although both Varga and Stephenson made their bars smoke-free, both expressed mixed feelings about whether an expanded ordinance is a good idea.
“I’m up in the air,” Varga said. “When I’m over here (at Sideways), going in I know it’s smoke-free. Over there (at Ryleigh’s), I can have a cigarette with my buddies and not freeze during the winter and stay cool during the summer.”
“Overall,” he added, “my opinion is, my places are private clubs. It’s 21 or over to get in. I think we should allow smoking if you want to. If you don’t want to go there, go someplace else.”