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Saturday, May 5, 2007

ohio's smoking ban



Ohio's smoking ban has me breathing more second-hand smoke than ever. My bookshop is sandwiched between Tobacco Road, the only type of indoor business where smoking is allowed, and Uncle John's Restaurant and Jimmy's Bar.
To begin with, Tobacco Road moved next door before the smoking ban took effect. After the new ordinance took effect they would not have been allowed smoking if they had relocated there because it's not a freestanding building. But because they moved prior to the ban, smoking is allowed. Uncle John's is a notoriously smoky place, and I worked many hours plugging the penetrations of the party wall at floor joist voids to eliminate the stale smoke smell coming through the wall, only to have to repeat the process on the Tobacco Road side of my building with only limited success.
The streescape planters out front have long been treated as benches for idlers who smoke away day after day, littering the sidewalk with their cigarette butts. Now Uncle John's and Jimmy's have started enforcing the indoor smoking ban, and their customers and staff now join the idlers outside on the planters throughout the day, adding to the smoke and litter.
Having my shop door propped open for ventilation on these nice spring days has become a thing of the past because it brings in second-hand smoke no matter which way the wind is blowing. I don't mind tolerating Tobacco Road, because eventually the owners of that building will have to solve the ventilation issue there if they ever want any other tenants, especially on the second floor. But I am going to start raising the issue of these planters being used as park benches. Cutting some of the trees and bushes two years ago did discourage the idlers for a time, but they are back more today and joined by the smokers displaced by the indoor smoking ban.

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