Smoking Ordinance Sparks Debate
PALM DESERT – Finding a place to smoke in Palm Desert will soon be a little harder. Last week the city council voted to tighten the current smoking ordinance, putting more distance between smokers and non-smokers.
“It’s nice to know you don’t have to breath in something that you don’t want to,” says non-smoker, Garet Sells.
“The main reason is health and second hand smoke,” says Ryan Stendell with the city of Palm Desert.
However the ordinance has some smokers and businesses fuming.
“They say that 10 thousand people die each year from second hand smoke, show me one death certificate that said that’s what they died from,” says Jack Bruning.
The ordinance says smokers need to at least 20 feet away from the main entrance of a building before lighting up.
“I think it’s great,” says Joanne Field.
“I don’t think it’s realistic,” says Brent Schmidman, owner of Schmitty’s in Palm Desert.
With such differing opinions, city leaders feel the ordinance is a fair compromise. They originally wanted to make Palm Desert a smoke free city.
“It’s a balancing act,” says Stendell. ” We are trying to balance the needs of the smoker and the needs of the non-smoker.”
However, Schmidman says it doesn’t met his needs. He needs to accommodate customers.
“The majority of our night and evening business, about 50 percent is smokers,” says Schmidman.
The big problem for Schmidman is there is no room to expand the smoking area. If he did, it would put smokers in the street. The back of the restaurant runs along Highway 111, so again there is no room for growth.
“How can you comply if you don’t have 20 feet to give?” says Schmidman. “For a lot of businesses it’s actually a ban on smoking.”
Schmidman worries this will push customers away, and many smokers agree.
“I’ll go to Rancho Mirage,” says Bruning. “I can go to the Yard House there and smoke on the patio. I will take my business to a different city.”
City leaders say research shows smoking bans do not have an adverse effect on business. In fact, they say in some cases it does the opposite. the city is still working on the ordinance details which begins in 2010.
