Madison’s Public Health Commission voted unanimously Monday afternoon to endorse an ordinance that could eliminate smoking from a significant number of bars in the downtown area.
The Public Health Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council, who is set to vote on the ordinance Oct. 1.
The ordinance was drawn up and proposed in mid-August by Ald. Jean MacCubbin, District 11, Ald. Gary Poulson, District 20 and Ald. Paul J. Van Rooy, District 18.
The Public Health Commission is comprised of Madison civilians, including a physician and a dentist, as well as nurses, alders and other Madison residents.
Only one member of the commission, Ald. Linda Bellman, District 1, was absent and did not vote.
Jean Dye, a registered nurse and member of the Public Health Commission, was pleased with the commission’s approval.
“Research has pointed out that secondhand smoke is dangerous to your health,” Dye said. ” Smoking contributes to heart disease, cancer and bronchitis.”
However, Dye emphasized that stopping people from smoking was not the commission’s aim.
“We do not want to stop people from smoking,” Dye said. The fundamental issue at hand, she said, is smoking in the workplace, which she said puts some people, especially employees at restaurants that double as bars and allow smoking, in situations hazardous to their health.
“People who work in restaurants ought not to be exposed to smoke unwillingly,” said Dye. “It’s like that in other lines of work, such as many office jobs in Madison.”
Bellman, absent from the meeting, said she is not sure how she would have voted had she been at the meeting.
“I haven’t really made up my mind,” Bellman said. “I’m a little concerned about the way this is taking place, because I don’t like the idea of telling property owners one thing and then doing another.”
Bellman said that many bar owners were persuaded to install expensive air-purification equipment, reaching into the thousands of dollars, in bars several years ago in the hope that they would escape persecution from the city.
“The Nitty Gritty put in fairly expensive air purifying equipment with an understanding that they would not have to worry about having smoking restricted there if they made an effort to meet these requirements,” Bellman said.
Bellman said she is unsure of how she will vote come the council vote in October.
“I don’t believe [the smoking ordinance] would spell disaster for bars, but it’s the incremental approach I’m worried about,” Bellman said, referring to the fact that a decade ago, bars gaining up to 33 percent of their revenue from alcohol were considered restaurants.
The proposed ordinance, if passed, would raise that figure to 50 percent, putting the restaurant status of many downtown bars, including the Nitty Gritty, the State Bar & Grill and others into jeopardy.
