Local cigar store owners, small-business members of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers, urge city leaders to follow the will of their constituencies instead of the well-heeled, big business anti-tobacco interests that have been lobbying the city for more than two years.
Representing the point of view of the dozen or so St. Louis IPCPR members in their fight against the currently proposed citywide smoking ban is Tony Palazzolo, an independent insurance agent who works with Keep St. Louis Free, a group fighting against legislated smoking bans such as the one currently being considered by the city.
“Why would St Louis want to follow Illinois, a state that last year had a $2 billion budget deficit… a state that lost hundreds of millions in revenue from their ban? It’s the same state that spent millions on a campaign telling everyone how well it worked, even though half the state won't enforce the law,” said Palazzolo.
The local businessman reminded legislators that some 42 percent of restaurants in St. Louis are already completely smoke-free by choice and, of those that allow smoking, nearly all restrict it to the adults-only bar area.
“(Legislated) bans are starting to trend back. Illinois, Ohio and Colorado have legislation that pretty well kills their bans. (Many) other states have either killed or weakened their bans (while) many cities have outright denied any sort of legislation,” Palazzola pointed out. “The people are getting tired of governments that think they know best and meddle in businesses that are best left alone.”
He cited independent studies by the University of Wisconsin and the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank that showed the Columbia, Missouri smoking ban cut revenues of bars and the overall restaurant trade by up to 11 percent. In Illinois, the smoking ban cut overall casino revenues by 20 percent and, based on a national study of the effect of smoking bans on employment in the hospitality industry, the proposed St. Louis city smoking ban would cut bar and restaurant employment by up to 20 percent.
“Are we really ready to risk revenues and employment in such economically perilous times? A recent study by the Rand Corp. Stanford University, the University of Wisconsin and the Congressional Budget office found that smoking bans have not reduced rates of … serious disease in communities that impose them. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration – OSHA – is charged with protecting worker health. They have opted not to regulate smoking in the workplace. Instead, OSHA established safe levels of secondhand smoke that far exceed those found in typical restaurants and bars,” said Palazzolo.
“The marketplace is deciding what businesses should allow smoking or not, and that’s the way it should be. Government shouldn’t be taking away the rights of business owners to run their enterprises as the market dictates, not big government” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR, an association of retail tobacconists and manufacturers of premium cigars, pipes and related accouterments, most of whom are small, family-owned businesses.
Palazzolo and McCalla urged all residents of St. Louis to call Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Alderman, at 314/622-4114 and let him know that they do not want legislated smoking bans and that government should be creating jobs, not putting them at risk.
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Contact:
Tony Tortorici
678/697-3069
