[C-U Smokefree] Updates from the Prez

[Scott Hays]

Updates from the Prez

 

With the abstention of CM Dodds, and the uncertainty if not outright opposition of CM Ennen, we have decided to redirect our efforts to Urbana.  Mayor Prussing suggests they will take up the issue in January. We are going to take the months of the holidays to catch our breath, regroup, gather some perspective, and have some fun!  (More later) 

 

A thousand thanks are due to CM Rosales for his leadership on this issue.  This has been one of the most divisive issues on Champaign City Council in recent memory and it cannot be fun to be the member leading this charge.  With our help, Giraldo had drafted a comprehensive restaurant and bar ordinance to present to the city of Champaign and was ready to do so when Dodds announced her abstention, killing any chance it might have had.  Be sure to thank and encourage Giraldo every chance you get!

 

As for Dodds, to the extent that she had a conflict, one would presume it to be that she would vote against the ordinance, since it would regulate her husband’s bar, Boltini’s.  Yet she is on record voting for a comprehensive ban including both restaurants and bars.  Perhaps she is arguing that she must abstain because she realizes how much a smokefree city ordinance would directly BENEFIT her husband’s business??  Somehow I doubt it.  

 

As for Ennen, we are now left to assume that she is opposed, despite her recorded vote for a comprehensive smokefree ordinance.  We have to assume her position since she will not talk to her constituents nor us about this (or any other issue, for all we know).  She did tell the News-Gazette that she is “uncomfortable legislating on the issue” and that “for us to sit and judgment and tell privately owned businesses what they can and can’t do
I  don’t want to be that.”  We’re not sure about her opinion on a raft of other business regulations that the Champaign City Municipal Code is chock full of.  Presumably she wants to revoke them.

 

At this point, lwe should all be writing etters to the editor targeting Dodds (for abstaining on an issue she has already voted in favor of) and Ennen for her stated opposition to the ordinance despite her position as a teaching public health nurse. Exactly what lessons is she teaching with her public behavior in office? Does she teach her students to favor the interests of business owners over public health anytime the public’s health is at risk?

 

Finally, I did have a conversation with CM McIntosh during which I tried to convince him to consider an ordinance that was limited to “food service establishments.”  This would essentially exclude 20 “bars” that do not serve food out of the current 165 Champaign smoking-permitted establishments. It’s a compromise, but one that we think would create major benefits for public health.  CM Rosales, Bruno, Pirok and Jackson would probably support such an ordinance. But so far, there is no further progress on that issue.

 

In light of these developments, we’ll be slowing down a bit, with our next regular meeting scheduled for December 7 at Parkland and no additional meetings in December.  

 

Meantime, four of us will be attending a Smokefree Ordinance training hosted by the American Lung Association and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights next Wednesday.  We are all looking forward to learning more about smokefree policies and ordinances.

 

Finally, on that fun thing, we are going to continue scheduling weekly smokefree social gatherings and will try to put together a smokefree Holiday Party.  Check the website regularly for more details.

 

Also, we are going to make a better effort to promote our smokefree restaurants, both old, new and those in transition.  The transition restaurants are those that are going smokefree for limited times.  While this is less than ideal from our perspective, it is important for us to patronize them during smokefree hours and most importantly, let them know why we are there.

 

We have two new smokefree restaurants just in the past few weeks (PapaDel's and Pickle's).  At this rate, we'll have lots of new smokefree dining opportunities as soon as thrity or forty year from now!  I can't wait!

 

CU Smokefree!

 

Scott

sphcusmokefree at yahoo.com

217-778-2645

www.cu-smokefree.org


		
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