Because the proposed Savannah smoking ban would treat restaurants and bars in a equal manner, unlike the 2005 State law, the GRA Savannah Chapter has gone on record in support of this initiative. Here is the coverage from last night.

For and against, public speaks out on smoking
Posted: July 29, 2010 – 7:48am
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Wearing a homemade necklace dangling asthma inhalers and medications, Elizabeth Myers told city council she can’t go into restaurants or bars that allow smoking. (Photo by Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News)

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By Lesley Conn
BARBARA ALLISON SIMPSON wants to walk up to a business without swatting away clouds of smoke. She wants a tougher city ordinance on smoking.

SANDRA PETTIGREW AND HER HUSBAND, BOB, would prefer the government keep out of bars and stay out of their lives.

Their opposing viewpoints brought them to the same location Wednesday night: The city of Savannah’s quarterly Town Hall meeting at the Civic Center, which included a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would further restrict smoking in public places.

The line formed quickly when Mayor Pro Tem Edna Jackson explained speakers would have only 30 minutes to make their comments so that other citizens could be heard on other issues. Health care workers, asthma sufferers and schoolchildren encouraged passage and outnumbered speakers opposed; business owners and those calling it an infringement on personal freedom want it snuffed.

One person’s relaxation can be another’s undoing. When Simpson is exposed to cigarette smoke, it triggers an allergic reaction. She takes allergy shots twice a month and carries an inhaler. Smoke seems to be everywhere.

“Even when I walk down the street, folks are driving with their hands out the window to let their cigarette smoke blow away,” she said. “Having a space at a door helps me breathe, so thank you.”

Elizabeth Myers, a cancer survivor, carried evidence of her plight around her neck. She displayed inhalers on ribbons around her neck. Passing the ordinance would mean she could go into bars to listen to her husband, a blues musician, something she can’t do now.

The ordinance would close loopholes allowed in a 2005 state law, Georgia Smoke Free Air Act, including banning smoking in bars, long-term care facilities, retail tobacco stores and within 20 feet of entrances to public buildings and businesses.

The very idea upsets Richard Mika, who said he has grown tired of Savannah’s over-regulation he moved to Statesboro. He still owns 12 properties in Savannah, and that gave him ground to speak his mind, he said.

“They will not tell me what I can do on my own property unless they are going to pay my property taxes, my business taxes and my payroll taxes,” he said. “This is not a fascist society.”

The discussion has activated groups for and against. Healthy Savannah introduced the ordinance to council with the backing of the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society, saying the added restrictions are needed to reduce the risk of second hand smoke exposure, particularly for workers who have no way to escape a smoky work environment.

Amy Hughes, chairwoman of Smoke Free Savannah, a subcommittee of Healthy Savannah, counters that in cities where smoke-free ordinances have been passed, studies show that business revenues have increased.

Groups such as The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association have begun rallying opposition, countering that the ordinance is an effort to ban a legal activity and could be another burden on businesses struggling financially.

One group that has changed its position is the Georgia Restaurant Association. Initially opposed, Mike Vaquer, who heads the association, wants the city to consider easing outdoor restrictions by allowing smoking on outdoor patios. Local restaurants, he said are confident customers would stay with them even if more restrictions were put in place.

Several downtown bar employees at a hearing last week worried that a city-only ban would drive customers to watering holes in Pooler or the islands.

The Pettigrews think it would change their social life.

“We’re tired of the government telling us how and when we can do a thing,” Bob Pettigrew said. “They’re trying to tear us apart as a couple. She’d have to go outside.”

“That’s my unwinding time with him,” Sandra Pettigrew said. “He drinks and I drink water and smoke. That’s my outlet other than alcohol.”

Healthy Savannah does plan to introduce a similar ordinance for all of Chatham County.

Opponents also have been vocal in their assertion that asking smokers to step outside would turn Savannah’s sidewalks and squares into smoke-filled, butt-littered avenues along which few pedestrians would want to tread.

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Speakers:
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Cost:
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Snellville leaders see Sunday alcohol sales boosting growth

By Shane Blatt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Snellville’s economy, stuck in neutral for years, is poised to move forward now that local restaurants can pour alcohol on Sundays, city officials say.

“Now that we have it, it gives us more weapons in our ability to develop,” Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said Wednesday. Sunday sales passed by a nearly 3-to-1 margin in Tuesday’s referendum.

Oberholtzer said the city’s ban on Sunday sales not only meant the loss of restaurants and revenue, but also created a domino effect. Swanky hotels and chic boutiques didn’t want to open in Snellville, leaving the Gwinnett County community of 20,000 with a surplus of pawn shops and auto parts stores, he said.

Tuesday’s vote is seen as opening the door to high-end eateries and professional-service businesses such as lawyers and doctors. It also will renew talks over annexing retail establishments such as the Avenue, and likely will lead to the re-establishment of the Snellville Development Authority, inactive for 20 years, the mayor said.

Meanwhile, seven restaurants whose beer and wine licenses were voided by a judge in January — after the city approved Sunday sales by council vote, rather than through a referendum — will be able to pour again beginning Sunday. Other restaurants hope to follow suit.

Felipe Lopez of Little Mexico Bar & Grill on Scenic Highway said Wednesday his restaurant hopes to obtain a Sunday distilled spirits license in the next few weeks. Then it can sell its signature Texas margarita on Sunday and, Lopez said, keep patrons from walking out the door.

“It will increase profit another 20 percent,” he said. “It will keep customers happy. Now they’re going to stay, [and] not going to leave.”

Snellville was one of three cities in Gwinnett prohibiting Sunday sales in restaurants, along with Dacula and Loganville. Of the state’s 585 cities and 159 counties, about 100 jurisdictions allow restaurants to pour on Sundays.

However, Snellville’s ban stood out because of the city’s size and proximity to Atlanta, said Michele Stumpe, an attorney specializing in alcohol compliance laws. Typically, she sees the Sunday prohibition among rural towns with populations under 10,000.

Former Councilman Robert Jenkins, who was involved in a recent lawsuit against the city, said he doesn’t believe booze will lure restaurants. Market and demographic factors, not the added availability of alcohol, will do that, he said.

“The mayor thinks the city’s going to realize significant revenue, along with economic growth, of restaurants coming to Snellville simply because and only because they can sell alcohol on Sunday,” he said. “That is a scab-dog lie.”

Any profit generated from Sunday sales will be offset by the added cost in police protection and problems associated with alcohol abuse, Jenkins said.

Resident Sam Rich, 76, said he drinks socially, but he sees no redeeming value in alcohol.

“This whole thing is about money,” he said. “The city wants the taxes off liquor. The question is: Is it worth it?”

Snellville is expected to garner $30,000 to $50,000 in alcohol license fees, plus occupational tax revenue. The mayor estimates restaurants have lost $1.5 million in sales since 2004, when the last alcohol referendum was approved. Critics argued it didn’t address Sunday sales specifically, so city leaders allowed alcohol to flow just six days a week.

Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Bender acknowledged that Sunday alcohol sales aren’t the “end all, be all” for Snellville’s future, but she said they are a vital piece of the economic puzzle.

“I think of the city as a stool with four legs,” she said. “One of those legs is Sunday sales.”

The others, she said, are the arts, the land-use plan and the Snellville Tourism and Trade Association, the newly formed community-building arm of the city.

“Snellville’s been limping along for years,” Bender said. “Now we’ve cured the limp, and we’re set to run.”

David Stedman, economic development director for the Evermore Community Improvement District, said the vote is a step in the right direction.

“Where good restaurants go is where good retail goes,” he said. “It was to the benefit to Snellville to pass this.”

Kurt Schulz, 63, believes that’s the truth. After Tuesday’s vote, the longtime resident walked out of City Hall flashing a wide, toothy grin.

“We all felt this was what the people wanted,” he said. “Let’s go, Snellville!”

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When: August 3rd from 2-4pm

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500 Pharr Road
Atlanta, GA 30305

Media training is aimed at helping you prepare effectively, perform professionally, and truly win in interview situations. Our mission is to enhance your ability to:

-Define clearly your positions on issues affecting you, your company and industry.
-Face interviews with increased confidence and control.
-Assure that your message is communicated through the medium to the audience.
-Develop better working relationships with members of the media.

Speakers:
-Ellen Hartman, APR, Fellow PRSA
President
Fitzgerald+CO PR
-Anne Reeves Reich

Cost:
-$50.00 GRA Restaurant Members
-$100.00 Non GRA Restaurant Members

Snellville votes for Sunday alcohol sales

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By Shane Blatt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Snellville can raise a glass this Sunday.

Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com Several signs posted about 150 feet away from the Snellville City Hall favor the Sunday liquor-by-the-drink referendum.
Enlarge photo

Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com On Tuesday, Voters in Snellville approved Sunday alcohol sales after years of political infighting, legal battles and ill will.
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By a 1,386-784 referendum vote on Tuesday, residents ended the city’s long-standing ban on Sunday alcohol sales at restaurants. The vote was the culmination of years of political infighting, legal battles and ill will across this Gwinnett County community of 20,000.

The action opens the tap immediately for seven restaurants whose beer and wine licenses were voided by a judge in January. Restaurants that want to serve distilled drinks will have to wait three weeks.

“The people of Snellville have spoken,” Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said after the vote at City Hall. “We won. Now we can put this thing behind us and move Snellville forward again.”

Snellville was one of three cities in Gwinnett County that prohibited Sunday sales in restaurants, joined by Dacula and Loganville. Of the state’s 585 cities and 159 counties, about 100 jurisdictions allow restaurants to pour drinks on Sunday.

Not everyone was pleased with Tuesday’s outcome.

“That’s disappointing; that’s all I can say,” said Larry Rutledge, a deacon at First Baptist Church of Snellville.

For years, the mayor has maintained that Sunday alcohol sales are the linchpin to the city’s economic future, with opponents arguing the perils of alcohol accessibility and its affront to religion.

The debate has raged since the last alcohol referendum passed in 2004, which prompted city officials to keep the tap open every day except Sunday.

Sunday alcohol sales passes in Bryan County
Posted: July 20, 2010 – 10:11pm | Updated: July 20, 2010 – 10:14pm

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By Chelsea Hauk
Bryan voters have chosen to allow Sunday alcohol sales by the drink. The amendment passed with 2,159 voting for the ordinance and 1,301 voting against.

View all primary election results from Bryan County.

The proposed amendment on the ballot was to allow for Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages from 12:30 p.m. until midnight in any licensed establishment that makes at least 50 percent of its total sales from either rented rooms for overnight lodging or the sale of prepared meals or food.

The changes in the ordinance should take affect after a resolution is adopted by the Bryan County Board of Commissioners at its Aug. 3 meeting, according to county administrator Phillip Jones.

Jones said he was aware of about six restaurants in the county that will be affected by the vote.

City of Savannah staff will meet with Savannah businesses and concerned citizens at 3PM on Wednesday, July 21st in City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall to hear comments on the proposed NO SMOKING ordinance that is under consideration. This meeting is in addition to the Town Hall meeting at the Civic Center next week.

Savannah City Council ready to snuff smoking
Proposed ordinance would place more restrictions on where people can light up
Posted: July 16, 2010 – 8:39am

FROM THE SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS

Savannah’s smoking rules may tighten

By Lesley Conn
Savannah City Council members are ready to endorse a proposed ordinance that further bans smoking in bars, restaurants and some outdoor spaces.

Council members Thursday had their first discussion of the proposal, which is endorsed by Healthy Savannah, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. Mayor Otis Johnson also has endorsed the ordinance, saying it is an important step in protecting those who, like him, have heart conditions or other health risks aggravated by exposure to secondhand smoke.

“We have to engage in this for the good of the people in spite of whatever opposition we might get,” he said. “We know it’s the right thing to do.”

Read the proposed ordinance

Anticipating concerns from bar owners, smokers and other interested groups, city officials are prepared to allow for public discussion of the ordinance, but Johnson called for those meetings to be limited to a portion of an upcoming town hall meeting and first reading of the ordinance, saying it did not need to become “a dragged-out process.”

Alderwoman Mary Osborne and Alderman Jeff Felser wanted at least one public meeting devoted solely to the ordinance. Council must listen with an open mind and seek input, not serve simply as “a rubber stamp,” Felser said.

Johnson, Mayor Pro Tem Edna Jackson and Alderman Van Johnson openly supported the proposal, and Alderwoman Mary Ellen Sprague and Aldermen Larry Stuber and Clifton Jones said they are prepared to support it, but want to see what ideas may come from public input.

Outdoor limitations

Felser and Alderman Tony Thomas expressed overall support, but found issue with some aspects of the proposal.

Chief among them is language that calls for a 20-foot buffer around entrances to restaurants, businesses and public buildings. Patrons no longer allowed to smoke in bars could clog narrow sidewalks and create security concerns because they would be repeatedly entering the bar, Thomas worried.

Amy Hughes, chairwoman of Smoke Free Savannah, a subcommittee of Healthy Savannah, downplayed the concern, saying most smokers are law-abiding citizens who would want to comply with the law.

The larger issue, she said, is keeping smoke from blowing back into restaurants. Of overriding concern, she said, is protecting from secondhand smoke bar, restaurant and private club employees not protected under existing state law. Under the 2005 statute, bars and restaurants that do not hire or allow minors to enter may continue to allow smoking, as can establishments that have private rooms with separate air-handling systems for smoke.

Mike Vaquer, representing the Georgia Restaurant Association, said there are provisions of the ordinance that are a concern, particularly language that would ban smoking within 20 feet of outdoor serving areas of restaurants.

“We need to make some accommodations where smoking is prohibited,” he said. “Operators should have the ability to determine what happens in outdoor areas of their facilities.”

A 20-foot buffer would put some smokers in the street if it were applied along River Street or other narrow corridors, something Dana Kennedy, general manager of The Warehouse on River Street, wouldn’t support. She also worries it could hurt business, even if it were applied evenly to all city bars.

“So it’s going to be like New York City and we make people stand out in the middle of the street to smoke?” she asked. “… Let’s face it, it’s hot in Savannah. Who wants to go outside to smoke?”

Eric Walker is willing to. The cook at The Lady & Sons restaurant stepped into Ellis Square for a smoking break Thursday afternoon. He admits it’s getting harder to find places to light up, but says it’s helped him cut down from four packs a day to one.

He would be willing to comply with whatever new ordinance the city passed, he said.

“You have to be considerate of others,” he said. “A lot of people don’t like smoke.”

Bryan County Voters will vote on Tuesday on allowing Sunday alcohol sales….in a local twist, sales would be tied to either 50% food sales, or 50% lodging revenues.

Sunday alcohol sales on Tuesday’s ballot in Bryan County
Posted: July 15, 2010 – 12:18am

The Sunday alcohol sales referendum on July 20 needs a simple majority to pass. Jamie Parker/Bryan County Now

By Chelsea A. Hauk

Bryan County voters will choose Tuesday whether limited Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages will be permitted in the county.

The proposed amendment would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages from 12:30 p.m. until midnight in any licensed establishment that makes at least 50 percent of its total sales from either rented rooms for overnight lodging or the sale of prepared meals or food.

If the measure passes, it could mean a welcome change for some restaurant owners who don’t want to see customers go elsewhere.

“To (be able to) compete with the city of Richmond Hill, Chatham County, Liberty County and everybody else is something we need,” said Butch Broome, owner of Fish Tales restaurant in south Bryan.

All other coastal Georgia counties have already passed similar legislation.

“You know, it does hurt our business,” Broome said of not being able to sell alcohol on Sundays. “I mean, I know I have people walk out every Sunday.”

Others, though, have hopes the measure will fail.

“I am a firm believer in the fact that instead of making alcohol more accessible, we ought to make it less accessible,” said Carlton Cooper, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Richmond Hill.

“I do believe that obviously that open alcohol on Sundays is certainly a desecration of the Lord’s day, and as a pastor of the local church and as a Christian, I find that to be something that disturbs me,” he added.

Earlier this year, Cooper spoke before the Bryan County Commission during its April meeting, asking commissioners to reject that the measure be put to public referendum.

Discussion about changing the county ordinance arose in the July 2009 Bryan County Commission meeting, following requests from county restaurants.

Since that time, the issue doesn’t seem to have ignited much large-scale controversy.

“We read the letter from the Family Connections on the fact that they would prefer not to have more opportunity for more time from alcohol sales,” said commission Chairman Jimmy Burnsed. “And we heard from a couple of individuals that said they would prefer not to have additional time for alcoholic sales, particularly on Sunday. But that’s been the extent of it,” he added.

In November of 2008, Richmond Hill residents voted 535 to 239 to repeal a local ordinance that until that time prohibited restaurants from serving alcohol by the drink in city limits on Sundays.