[C-U Smokefree] Smoking ban lifted at 2 Skokie eateries

[kdrea at lungil.org]

This story was sent to you by: Kathy Drea

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Smoking ban lifted at 2 Skokie eateries 
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By Ed Finkel
Special to the Tribune

July 22, 2004

An amendment to Skokie's year-old anti-smoking ordinance will permit two bar-restaurants to serve food and allow smoking without making renovations.

The Village Board approved an exemption this week for establishments that generate 25 percent or less of their on-site revenue from food sales. Takeout and delivery orders do not figure into the calculation.

The change comes two weeks after bar-restaurants were required under the original language to prohibit smoking, stop serving food or install a floor-to-ceiling barrier and separate ventilation systems for smoking and non-smoking areas.

Though bars were exempt from the original ordinance--along with tobacco shops and bowling alleys--they were allowed to serve food that had not been cooked at the site.

The owners of Village Inn Pizzeria, 8050 Lincoln Ave., sought the change, which will also enable Rick's Place, 8266 Lincoln, to continue serving a full menu and allow customers to smoke without installing the barriers and ventilation systems.

The Village Inn discontinued food service for almost two weeks and planned to try its luck as a bar only, said Randy Miles, co-owner.

"We're very pleased," he said. "We think the board made a prudent decision."

Trustee Michael Gelder, on the short end of the 5-1 vote, said he opposed the amendment because of public health reasons, because enforcing the 25 percent rule probably would be hard for "a small village staff," and because it created a "loophole for a single restaurateur."

Mayor George Van Dusen said the change would better balance public health and business concerns, noting that other municipalities have used revenue percentage cutoffs.

Diana Hackbarth, chair of the Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco, criticized the trustees.

"It certainly undermines the legislative process," she said. Miles "had the choice to go smoke-free. A second choice was to erect a wall. He chose to do neither and hoped to get them to change the ordinance at the 11th hour. And he succeeded"

Jack Coretos, owner of Jack's Restaurant, 5201 W. Touhy Ave., wondered if an exception might be made for his business, which has a floor-to-ceiling partition and separate ventilation systems but is not a bar. Coretos said his business is off 20 percent and he has cut his late-night hours since Aug. 7.

"Because I don't have liquor, I can't have smokers," he said. "That doesn't seem right."


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