SMOKING BAN---BARS and Legions NEED YOUR HELP!

poopstains · Post by **poopstains** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:43 pm

memorymaking wrote:The crowd was told the following closed:

Elco Tap
Chaps
Northwood Inn
Knockouts
.

The Elco had poor business long before the ban, they started going down when the foundry closed. The talks of closing long preceeded the smoking ban. I have very close contacts to that bar. The smoking ban probably didn't help much with a struggling business.

Chaps had slow business as well, they could get a crowd on a weekend but not so much during the week.

I never went to knockouts but I heard it sucked.

The point? These businesses were already struggling and in some instances failing. The smoking ban didn't take striving bars and crush them, it if anything, simply spead up the inevitable.

sevesd93 · Post by **sevesd93** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:15 pm

poopstains wrote:
memorymaking wrote:The crowd was told the following closed:

Elco Tap
Chaps
Northwood Inn
Knockouts
.

The Elco had poor business long before the ban, they started going down when the foundry closed. The talks of closing long preceeded the smoking ban. I have very close contacts to that bar. The smoking ban probably didn't help much with a struggling business.

Chaps had slow business as well, they could get a crowd on a weekend but not so much during the week.

I never went to knockouts but I heard it sucked.

The point? These businesses were already struggling and in some instances failing. The smoking ban didn't take striving bars and crush them, it if anything, simply spead up the inevitable.

Oh, so that makes it ok. Thanks for explaining.

MynameisJenn · Post by **MynameisJenn** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:21 pm

WBOB wrote:
memorymaking wrote:The crowd was told the following closed:

Elco Tap
Chaps
Northwood Inn
Knockouts
One other..... I need to double check the names, our Vice Chair Jon Bartels was taking the notes.

I was told by many other restaurants and Legions they wouldn't last another 3 months.

Note--Gateway Inn has a sign closed, as well, I am told.
Sportsmen on Wells!....(though I think this was before the ban)

sportman on wells died quite a while before the smoking ban--much to my dismay

poopstains · Post by **poopstains** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:37 pm

I never said that made it okay, but using failing bars for the examples for why the smoking ban is so bad just doesn't work.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:34 am

I can agree with that, but some formerly striving bars are now struggling as well - Green Frog is the one I'm most aware of - and all of them are reporting decreased revenue from the same month, compared to the last few years.

memorymaking · Post by **memorymaking** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:45 am

The ramifications of this go very far.

The food and beverage tax is suffering which means WE ALL will be paying more for projects the City Council has over committed to.

The numbers are there already.
The sales tax, the food and beverage tax are down.
Profits are down, expenses are up.

Income from the use taxes is down.
People have lost jobs and are going on food stamps and losing homes.
More people are going to be out of work and on the public aid roles.

LOCAL people who built this city are suffering--Not the chains who don't buy their food here, who don't buy their alcohol here, who aren't vested in our community aren't being hurt .

How does this make any sense?

Check out the quotes from last night... Crawford said

Dr. John Crawford/(R) Ft. Wayne Council At-Large: "It is possible some business will lose business. But economic considerations do not trump the health issues of a law designed to improve public health. It is possible Fort Wayne, Indiana, is the most resistant place to change in the entire world."

He doesn't care. They don't care if the people who built this city lose money.

Is this the kind of elected official we want? Where do politicians think they have any right to take our choices away?

I am SO frustrated.

They are going to reopen the issue last I knew last night late after the Council meeting. Just to listen one more time I imagine.

It may be next Tuesday or the Tuesday after that.

WBOB · Post by **WBOB** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:46 am

bassjones wrote: Green Frog is the one I'm most aware of - and all of them are reporting decreased revenue from the same month, compared to the last few years.

....and I wish Tom would state his view on the ban, he's been
very vocal on the loss of cherrymaster and other gambling revenue,
but silent on this issue. I know Cindy's having a rough time with this.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:06 am

Dr. John Crawford/(R) Ft. Wayne Council At-Large: "It is possible some business will lose business. But economic considerations do not trump the health issues of a law designed to improve public health. It is possible Fort Wayne, Indiana, is the most resistant place to change in the entire world."

That right there says it all! Did anybody ask him if he'd read the UCLA study that determined the health effects of 2nd hand smoke were negligible at best? He's a Dr., so I'm sure he's read it. Or maybe he's too busy being the city's nanny to bother with reading medical studies now.

sevesd93 · Post by **sevesd93** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:25 am

Side Pocket just stopped serving lunch. The kitchen now doesn't open till 5pm.

Can't afford to staff the kitchen when nobody comes in to eat anymore.

The_Dude · Post by **The_Dude** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:01 am

sevesd93 wrote:Side Pocket just stopped serving lunch. The kitchen now doesn't open till 5pm.

Can't afford to staff the kitchen when nobody comes in to eat anymore.

They should probably run that by the city council members. You know...since they know what's best for everyone.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:45 am

sevesd93 wrote:Side Pocket just stopped serving lunch. The kitchen now doesn't open till 5pm.

Can't afford to staff the kitchen when nobody comes in to eat anymore.

We're all first in line to be cut or be playing at drastically reduced rates. Can't afford to pay a band $600 when nobody's there paying cover charges and buying alcohol.

G Fresh · Post by **G Fresh** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:59 am

Sounds like I got out of Fort Wayne just in time. Although it looks like they may have the same ban enforced down here within a few months, Nashville is Nashville and people will always come out for live music.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:12 pm

G Fresh wrote:Sounds like I got out of Fort Wayne just in time. Although it looks like they may have the same ban enforced down here within a few months, Nashville is Nashville and people will always come out for live music.

Exactly. And Fort Wayne is Fort Wayne... The unhealthiest city in America. Take away their smokes and they stay home!

Garr · Post by **Garr** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:51 pm

I still stand by my previous statements that it will eventually even out and then bring more business to the bars. That's been the model in other cities where this has happened, especially in California. The bars that end up closing because of it, well, I look at it as natural selection.

I will also state that I don't agree with the law and I think it's unconstitutional, but it is the law, and if they're going to enforce it, then you gotta be careful. I think that being forced to wear my seat belt is unconstitutional too, but after I got 4 tickets for not wearing it, I decided to buckle up.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:54 pm

Anybody up for a giant smoke-in?!?!?!? City Hall maybe?