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Editorial: 'Option 2' best proposition for Waco smoking ordinance

Oct. 29, 2009

Claire Taylor | Lariat Staff

The Waco City Council is voting on a prospective smoking ordinance on Tuesday. The council will vote on whether to add additional restrictions to the current policies or to ban smoking altogether except in private locations and retail tobacco stores. Through either method, the council hopes to lessen secondhand smoke to non-smokers.

Waco's current smoking ordinance generally forbids smoking at indoor workplaces but allows smoking in bars, small food establishments and small businesses.

While The Lariat supports council's valiant effort to reduce secondhand smoke, passing an ordinance that completely removes the ability to smoke from every place except for homes, tobacco stores and outdoor areas would be too large of a detriment for some businesses.

Those that smoke have every right to patronize the same businesses as non-smokers. Instead of banning smoking altogether, council should take a closer look at what the council is calling "Option 2," an ordinance that is less strict in that it would ban smoking in restaurants and other businesses that do not have separate ventilation for its smoking parties.

While the latter requirement may seem to be a harsh rule, one must consider that the most dangerous part of secondhand smoke, the odorless carbon monoxide, is able to travel across those rooms that do not have the mentioned ventilation.

Additionally, "Option 2" would restrict smoking in newly-opened bars, but not existing ones. By definition, a bar is any establishment that derives more than half of its income from the sale of alcohol.

Not only would this limit smoking to a certain number of bars, but it would give newer bars safety restrictions to design around so patrons are better taken care of.

The council is largely split, with several members of the council on either side of the fence.

"There's no way to eliminate secondhand smoke indoors, and even a small amount can be harmful," Councilman Randy Riggs said in an interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald. "We are charged by our charter to protect the public health."

Others, such as Wilbert Austin, are more concerned about how the smoke-free ordinance will affect the current and expanding business in Waco.

While it's true that banning smoking may reduce the number of customers that an establishment hosts, "Option 2" will allow for pundits to be satisfied that they are notably reducing the level of smoking in the city and will not hit businesses too hard in terms of clientele.

Totally removing the privilege to smoke is not an idea that the council should be entertaining.

They have good intentions and the welfare of the citizens at heart, but cutting off a large portion of people from certain restaurants is not the answer that the city is looking for.

Instead, "Option 2," with its compromising laws, caters to both parties. When weighing one option against the other, it is clear that "Option 2" gives each side a little of what they want when it comes to smoking regulations.

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