Daily Local News – July 15, 2006

By Brian Fanelli, Staff Writer

WEST CHESTER – Borough Council’s Park, Recreation and Environmental Committee is working toward an anti-smoking initiative that would create a smoke-free environment once a week in restaurants and bars willing to cooperate.

"What we’re doing is just contacting restaurants on a voluntary basis," the committee’s chairperson, Councilman Scott Smith, said in a phone interview earlier this week. "This is just a catalyst to help it happen."

He said that the committee was inspired to move forward on the initiative after the Clean Air Council made a presentation before the committee last month about what other municipalities are doing to create smoke-free environments.

Smith believes that the initiative would help increase business. "I think it’s good from a marketing standpoint for restaurants. It could bring patrons from other areas into the borough," he said.

If restaurants and bars were interested in the initiative, Smith said he is not sure if the plan would move forward to the full Borough Council. He said it may just stay as a committee initiative.

Councilwoman Holly Brown has been chatting with local restaurants about the initiative, but she would not say which restaurants she has approached. She also said the movement would stay as an initiative. "It would not become a law. It would be about asking the residents to cooperate," Brown said after the committee’s meeting on Monday night.

She added that a no-smoking symbol with the day of the week would be placed in the restaurants and bars, so residents would be aware about the smoke-free environment.

Borough Manager Ernie McNeely said in a discussion on Tuesday night that Borough Council would not have the power to enforce a broad smoking ban because of existing state laws.

The committee hopes to have the smoke-free environment on Thursday nights, but Smith said after the meeting that everything is "very preliminary" right now.

Local restaurant and bar owners have a mixed reaction to the possible smoke-free environment.

"I think it’d be great to not have smoking," Bruce Donohoe, owner of Vincent’s Restaurant and Bar on Gay Street, said in a discussion on Tuesday afternoon.

However, he added that he would like the smoke-free environment to take place during the whole week, not just one night. "It should be all or nothing," he said.

Andrew Patten, owner of Spence Café on Gay Street, wants there to be common regulations for everyone. "I think I would support it if everyone was playing by the same rules," he said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon.

He does have some hesitations. "My concern is primarily with economics. I wouldn’t want it to hurt my business," he said.

Some cities and states have already passed smoking bans. In June, Philadelphia’s City Council passed a bill that would ban smoking in most public places, including bars and restaurants.

Philadelphia council members plan to make some additional amendments to the legislation in the fall, including one that would make the bill effective in January. Councilman Michael Nutter introduced the legislation last year, and it still needs approval by Mayor John Street.

Some of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states, including Delaware and New Jersey, have smoking bans in public places, according to www.smokefreeworld.com, a directory of places that have smoking bans. Casinos are an exception in New Jersey’s ban.