Smoking ban exemptions remain hazy

So here's something interesting about the city's full-on smoking ban, which is set to take effect in about a month and a half: According to KTRK, there's still no permitting process in place for cigar bars, one of a handful of types of businesses that are supposed to be exempt from the ban. Mike Shapiro, who owns a cigar bar downtown, is one of the people who's trying to figure out what's going on: "I tried going down there to find out when I can apply [for the exemption], and all you get is a run-around," he told Channel 13. "They're not ready. Well, we're in the middle of July and they're still not ready."

KTRK went to Kathy Barton of the city's health department for answers. Barton said the city has a small staff working on the exemptions, explaining that the staff is now concentrating on a list of eight cigar bars they found on the Internet. Among them are Bossa, Downing Street and Crofts, but as KTRK notes, the list isn't all that great: One of the bars included, Paesanos, has already shut down. City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado said she hopes the health department will get itself in gear — "They need to get busy on that," she said — but she also said she thought that only five bars were going to be exempted from the ban. We're not sure where that number came from; we figure there are more than five cigar bars in the city. Also exempted will be tobacco shops, outdoor patios and hotel meeting rooms (because, let's face it, those day-long corporate training sessions are a lot easier to take with a pack of Kools).

So the question remains as to how many businesses will end up being exempt when the ban takes effect Sept. 1 — and so far, there's really no answer. "There shouldn't be a list," Shapiro said. "Anyone who wants [an exemption] should be allowed to apply for it." The city says it'll post some applications next week; in the meantime, everybody light up!