Paying for Clean Air

We stopped in last night at the Pilsner Room on Harbor drive here in Portland. It's a great little spot right on the Willamette where you can enjoy a few drinks without smelling like an ash tray when you leave. Yep - it's one of the few non-smoking, full bars in town.

The smoking ban goes into effect at the end of this year, causing all establishments to no longer allow the cancer stick, except horse race tracks and cigar bars. It's a big step, particularly in a state where people, young and old, still think they have a "right" to smoke wherever they want. This one has been fought for several decades now.

The sort-of-bad news is that the state could reasonably loose a few million in tax revenue. True, those folks who only smoke in bars and never anywhere else (I used to be one, there are plenty of us) will most likely kick the habit entirely. That means all those tax dollars will go into other things - like booze. Let's face it - folks will replace one addiction with another. Don't they tax booze too? That's what I thought.

Bars with large customer bases of smokers will suffer initially. A drop in attendance will hit at first. The dives will close shop one by one until there are just a few well-liked dank watering holes left. Some will be revived by new owners that don't have a nose-candy and video-crack addiction to feed. To get around the smoking bans, some places will charge huge cover charges and simply pay the $2000 fines/month.

The good news is that his is one of those moves that has a great long-term effect. The world is full of opportunity and this may be that opportunity for once-smoky bars to re-invent themselves. Once word gets around that non-smoking is now the norm, folks who were once opposed to hanging out at divey, smoky bars will be out more. Perhaps not in droves, but they will be out.

Sure, there will still be cigar bars and the race track where smoking can take place. It's likely going to be a boon (at least in some respects) for these establishments.

Ahh, I can't wait until I can walk into Vertigo or Putters and actually be able to breathe. No more smelly clothing and jackets that take a week to air out. No more coming home feeling like I smoked a pack of cigarettes.

Breathingly,
Gregsta'