SMOKE BAN HITS 'HOODS - By DAVID RABIN - June 3, 2004 - The City Council has granted development rights to 16 sites in Soho and Noho, provided that no liquor licenses of any kind — not even restaurants — be granted in those new buildings.
Meanwhile, Manhattan Community Board 3 has declared a moratorium on the consideration of all liquor licenses within its borders. That's only advisory — but it sends quite a message to local politicians and to the State Liquor Authority. Similarly, residents of St. Mark's Place (that quiet, suburban oasis) have threatened to sue the SLA to halt the granting of any further licenses on their block.

Time to clear the air! - By Brian Nolan - April 22, 2004 - New York City agencies have consistently misled New Yorkers, with their rosy smoking-ban statistics: Headlines like “Bar Business up 8.7% since the ban”, have been debunked as totally inaccurate. The city deliberately dumped statistical data from hundreds of chain establishments such as Starbucks and McDonald's in with bars and taverns.

Spending on Big Macs and skim lattes tells us nothing about the effects of the smoking ban. To understand the ban's effect on bar and tavern business, one must look specifically at post-ban revenue totals for bars and taverns.

To date, only one such survey has been done, and it revealed what we in the New York City’s Hospitality Community already knew: Business is down! The survey, carried out by International Communications Research, found 76 percent of New York City bars and nightclubs have had a 30 percent decrease in customers, and 34 percent have cut staff. Not exactly encouraging statistics! This survey endorses the unheralded findings of a previous survey done by New York State Restaurant Assoc, NYC Chapter.

We're against the ban for one reason: It is undermining businesses and jobs. Please contact your local NYC City Councilor, or State Senator and Assembly member and tell them you support S.6372, the amendment to the Clean Indoor Air Act, that would allow smoking in certain areas of bars, and only under controlled filtration and purification circumstances.”

*** Brian Nolan, Executive Director, United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York, Inc.

Two OTBs get smoking waivers; Buffalo bistro wins suit - April 3, 2004, 3:08 PM EST - ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Two Off-Track Betting parlors in Oswego County have been granted waivers from the state's tough anti-smoking rules, while the operator of a Buffalo bistro won a waiver after suing in state court.

The Oswego County Board of Health on Friday granted waivers from the statewide ban on public indoor smoking to the OTB parlors in Central Square and Phoenix.

Waivers were rejected for the OTB parlor in Oswego and a tavern in Schroeppel. In March, the board approved four business waivers and rejected five.

Affected businesses have to show financial hardship from the ban and ensure that employees and non-smokers are protected from second-hand smoke.

The Central Square OTB showed that betting activity between November and January fell almost 42 percent from the previous year, and it spent $3,780 to minimize second-hand smoke.

The Phoenix OTB showed a 13.2 percent business drop and spent $127,500 to build a separate smoking room. The Oswego OTB showed a 6.6 percent drop, and its smoking room was found to be too close to the building entrance.

In Buffalo, State Supreme Court Justice Rose Sconiers on Friday granted Rick Naylon a six-month waiver from the no-smoking law for his Jimmy Mac's bistro.

Sconiers found that Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony Billittier improperly expanded the restrictions in requiring businesses to entirely eliminate smoke exposure of employees and nonsmokers. She also found unduly restrictive a requirement that Naylon prove he lost at least 15 percent in sales solely due to the smoking ban.

*** Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com