Smoking ban: Micropolitan community makes macro statement

LEIGH POMEROY

Cities, counties and states all over the U.S. and in an increasing number of countries are enacting smoking bans in restaurants and bars. While this is no longer an issue in California, the fifth largest economy in the world, which has had such a smoking ban in place since 1998, it's still a big deal in less advanced parts of the country.

For those who are wondering just which cities, states, provinces and countries have these smoking bans, below is a partial list (from Reference.com and Wikipedia):

• Countries: Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, Iran, Montenegro, Malta, Norway, Tanzania, Bhutan, Singapore, South Africa and Uganda.
• U.S. states: New York, California, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Utah, New Jersey, Washington and Colorado (as of July 1, 2006).
• U.S. cities: Tempe, Arizona; Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon; Appleton and Madison, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; Austin and El Paso, Texas; Laramie, Wyoming; Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Rochester and Mankato (as of July 1, 2006), Minnesota; and Washington, DC (as of January 2007).
  
• Canadian provinces: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Ontario.
• Canadian cities: Edmonton, Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa, Peel Region, St. John's, Toronto, Waterloo Region, York Region, London, Whitehorse, and Yukon.

Of course, this list is growing all the time.

The city council of one small, midwestern community, Mankato, Minnesota — population 35,000, with college students 45,000 — recently voted to keep in place a total smoking ban in bars and restaurants scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2006, despite vigorous opposition from some of its bar and restaurant owners.

The Mankato area, which includes North Mankato, a separate city, is known for being an educational center with a 14,000-student state university, a public junior college, a 600-student private college, and a small, private technical college. It also boasts two huge soybean processing facilities and one of the largest privately-held printing companies in the world, and is a regional medical center, spurred by the dynamic growth of the Mayo Health System.

Following a contentious city council meeting Monday night (May 8), I wrote the following:

Congratulations to a gutsy Mankato City Council for holding fast on its nonsmoking ordinance. Though the Council voted not to delay the ban, it agreed to put it to a referendum in November. This is appropriate given the contentiousness of the issue.

The Mankato City Council clearly made the right decision. The evidence is overwhelming that smoking is a health problem not only to smokers but to others around them. It is also an addiction. I used to smoke and know how difficult a habit it is to break.

The City Council had a choice: To do what its health care professionals and the majority of its citizens wanted or do what its bar owners wanted. The Council chose the former.

The bar owners complained that a smoking ban would affect their business. Whether it will or not is still unknown. But I can guarantee that if they continue to offer the great food and entertainment that they have in the past, any short-term drop will soon be mitigated.

What Mankato's smoking ban will do is reinforce this community's image as a center for health care, progressive education and children's interests. These are far more important than a bar owner's bottom line, in terms of how the community represents itself, how it supports the well-being of its residents, and how it sustains its economic vitality. The real bottom line is that health care and education bring in far more dollars to this community than smoke-filled bars.

What the City Council has done is ally Mankato with Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Duluth, Rochester and Olmsted County — all economically vibrant communities — rather than go with the lowest common denominator.

Those who felt defeated by last night's City Council vote have two choices: They could try to fight the ordinance in the November referendum — the negative approach — or they could take the high road and work for change in North Mankato. The latter is clearly the right choice.

It is time for all of us in Mankato and North Mankato — health care professionals, child advocates, educators, citizens, and, yes, bar owners — to work towards the inevitable and necessary change that must occur in the thinking of the North Mankato city government.

And if the current members of the North Mankato City Council and administration continue to resist change, then come November we must guarantee that those individuals be replaced via the democratic process.

The balance between individual liberties and community safety is never easy. And certainly an issue like this doesn't give rise to attention-grabbing headlines like nuclear weapons in Iran, domestic spying in the U.S., congressional scandals, or prolonged wars in the Middle East. But it does make a difference in many lives, most noteworthy those who suffer from the unhealthy habits of others.

It is for this reason that the smoking ban issue, though confined most often to local skirmishes, must continue to be pursued.