Home
News
DENVER — Don’t throw away the ashtrays just yet.
A Denver man, vowing to put a stop to an impending statewide ban on smoking in any restaurant and bar, is just getting started. He’s even winning over some nicotine-free folks.
Jim VonFeldt, owner of Billy’s Inn and active in state restaurant issues for more than 20 years, remembers vividly last month when the legislature voted to ban smoking in all state restaurants and bars.
“I was sitting in a room with 30 bar owners and everyone’s jaw was just hanging,” VonFeldt said. “Our lobbyist had given up. I leaned back and told them, ‘I don’t know about anyone else in this room, but this is one guy who’s not going to lay down,’ and hence, I started the coalition. Frankly, I’m surprised I’ve got as much backing as I have.”
VonFeldt’s group, Coalition for Equal Rights, is now 232 bar owners and $31,291 strong.
“I got a letter from a man in Georgia, sending me $25 for my noble cause, a Ph.D. in American history, a nonsmoker, who said he believes the Draconian smoking ban is hurting business,” VonFeldt said. “I honestly feel that I’m reaching the other side, and that’s what is most important.”
The smoking ban, effective July 1, prohibits smoking anywhere indoors, except for casinos, cigar bars and the ventilated smoking lounge at Denver International Airport. The law only supersedes city ordinances if they are less stringent.
Eagle County residents voted in the fall to ban smoking. Avon follwed with its own ban. Elsewhere in the state, Greeley residents voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in the fall of 2003. Greeley’s law did put some bars out of business, said Tim Nash, Greeley’s finance director who studied the effects of the ban.
“There’s no denying it affected their business, but that was when it was a city ban and smokers could go into Garden City and smoke,” Nash said. “Now, that won’t happen.”
The common assumptions of those supporting the ban were that bars would make up for the losses of smokers with hordes of non-smoking patrons who had stayed away because of the bad air.
“I haven’t noticed a gain of nonsmokers,” said Robbie Johnson, owner of The Dugout, who said the ban took about a 20 percent to 30 percent chunk out of his daily business.
VonFeldt and area bar owners don’t think the ban will bring in new business.
“That smoker will drive that extra mile to smoke that cigarette, but that nonsmoker won’t drive that far to buy a steak,” VonFeldt said.
VonFeldt’s said his fight is over equal rights and government intrusion on business. He’ll throw out statistics at random: since New York’s ban in 2003, 100 bars have gone out of business.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to from Greeley, Loveland, Hugo, Trinidad, Dinosaur, Fort Morgan, all these small communities with bars and taverns, business is so bad now because of the economy that if they lose another 10 percent, they’ll be out of business,” VonFeldt said.
The nonsmoking movement has shown no signs of dying, however. That’s why the Colorado Restaurant Association backed the statewide measure, said Pete Meersman, the group’s director.
“We knew these local ordinances would continue to be passed and that was creating inequities,” Meersman said. “The board took the position that we didn’t feel like there was much danger of losing customers across state lines as we did across city or county lines.”
Vail, Colorado
A Denver man, vowing to put a stop to an impending statewide ban on smoking in any restaurant and bar, is just getting started. He’s even winning over some nicotine-free folks.
Jim VonFeldt, owner of Billy’s Inn and active in state restaurant issues for more than 20 years, remembers vividly last month when the legislature voted to ban smoking in all state restaurants and bars.
“I was sitting in a room with 30 bar owners and everyone’s jaw was just hanging,” VonFeldt said. “Our lobbyist had given up. I leaned back and told them, ‘I don’t know about anyone else in this room, but this is one guy who’s not going to lay down,’ and hence, I started the coalition. Frankly, I’m surprised I’ve got as much backing as I have.”
VonFeldt’s group, Coalition for Equal Rights, is now 232 bar owners and $31,291 strong.
“I got a letter from a man in Georgia, sending me $25 for my noble cause, a Ph.D. in American history, a nonsmoker, who said he believes the Draconian smoking ban is hurting business,” VonFeldt said. “I honestly feel that I’m reaching the other side, and that’s what is most important.”
The smoking ban, effective July 1, prohibits smoking anywhere indoors, except for casinos, cigar bars and the ventilated smoking lounge at Denver International Airport. The law only supersedes city ordinances if they are less stringent.
Eagle County residents voted in the fall to ban smoking. Avon follwed with its own ban. Elsewhere in the state, Greeley residents voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in the fall of 2003. Greeley’s law did put some bars out of business, said Tim Nash, Greeley’s finance director who studied the effects of the ban.
“There’s no denying it affected their business, but that was when it was a city ban and smokers could go into Garden City and smoke,” Nash said. “Now, that won’t happen.”
The common assumptions of those supporting the ban were that bars would make up for the losses of smokers with hordes of non-smoking patrons who had stayed away because of the bad air.
“I haven’t noticed a gain of nonsmokers,” said Robbie Johnson, owner of The Dugout, who said the ban took about a 20 percent to 30 percent chunk out of his daily business.
VonFeldt and area bar owners don’t think the ban will bring in new business.
“That smoker will drive that extra mile to smoke that cigarette, but that nonsmoker won’t drive that far to buy a steak,” VonFeldt said.
VonFeldt’s said his fight is over equal rights and government intrusion on business. He’ll throw out statistics at random: since New York’s ban in 2003, 100 bars have gone out of business.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to from Greeley, Loveland, Hugo, Trinidad, Dinosaur, Fort Morgan, all these small communities with bars and taverns, business is so bad now because of the economy that if they lose another 10 percent, they’ll be out of business,” VonFeldt said.
The nonsmoking movement has shown no signs of dying, however. That’s why the Colorado Restaurant Association backed the statewide measure, said Pete Meersman, the group’s director.
“We knew these local ordinances would continue to be passed and that was creating inequities,” Meersman said. “The board took the position that we didn’t feel like there was much danger of losing customers across state lines as we did across city or county lines.”
Vail, Colorado
