Council may be headed for full smoking ban

A City Council committee will hear testimony this afternoon about the effects of secondhand smoke, the first of two hearings planned to help officials decide whether to extend the city's smoking ordinance to possibly ban smoking in bars as well as restaurants. And there's a new twist to the discussion: Apparently tired of the idea that people can smoke in bars, but not in restaurants, the Greater Houston Restaurant Association came out in favor of a total ban yesterday.

"We want to make sure that (the ban) is fair across the board," said Carl Walker, president of the Restaurant Association and owner of Brennan's of Houston. "Let's just don't focus on restaurants only."

That position is new for the group; last year, it supported the city's push for a partial ban. But without a comprehensive ban, bars have a competitive edge over restaurants, Walker said.

Since the ban likely will be strengthened in some way, Walker said, he and other restaurant owners would prefer it apply to all food and drink establishments, even if that means patrons in the bar areas of their restaurants no longer are allowed to smoke.

The current smoking ordinance was approved in March 2005 and went into effect in September; when it was passed, Mayor Bill White said he hoped to put stricter smoking rules in place gradually — but now, thanks in part to a surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke released this summer, council may be able to push through a citywide ban all at once. And so you know, this isn't just about restaurants and bars: “My goal is to have a complete smoking ban in the workplace, looking at ordinances like from the city of Los Angeles, where they targeted the workplace,” Councilwoman Carol Alvarado told KHOU. “So we’re not just looking at restaurants and bars, but anyplace where employees are.”

There is, of course, opposition from some restaurant and bar owners, including John Zotos of St. Pete's Dancing Marlin (who is also president of the Downtown Entertainment District Association). Zotos said he opposes the city governing personal habits and predicted it would be hard for business owners to keep their patrons in check: "It's hard enough to sell food and booze without having to worry about policing the actions of people," he told the Chronicle. "It's just a drag."