Smoking ban on South Padre

[jkwc]

Benny's by the Bay Cafe' in Sea Ranch Marina has always been non-smoking.
Eat breakfast or lunch without dealing with smoke.
Smoking is allowed outside.

[LYNN ALLEN]

As a restaurant owner for 32 years in one location, I can share my experence on smoking. I own property on SPI and plan to retire on the island in 2 years

Let me start with saying my business is 9 hours north of SPI, small town, with mostly travelers. We have a coffee table where most locals set and smokeing was almost 100% and they would come and go all day. Our hours are 6AM till 9:30PM every day. After my dad died from a smoke related cause, I turned the restaurant into a total non-smokeing restaurant with 2 weeks notice, 15 years ago. Some got up set but all kept comeing in, they just smoked before and after. The pay off was from travelers, some 99% said they appreciated the smoke free restaurant. Business increased each year and I believe most of it is from this policy.
We do not serve alcohol so comparisons would be tricky. The Texas restaurant asso. and the National restaurant asso. both feel it should be up to the individual restaurant.

[Swells]

Right on! I think it should be up to the restaurant and how much they care for their people, including the workers.

And if people want to smoke they'd really like a porch of a kind outside, preferably away from the front door with a nice receptacle to put out the butts.

People really don't mind being asked to take it outside. /sam

[martyc]

BROWNSVILLE is the latest town in the Rio Grande Valley to put a smoking ban in place for restaurants.

Where is South Padre Island?

The Island should have been the FIRST to institute something that all medical personnel recommend.

Tourists are more discriminating today. Most come from areas where such bans exist.......San Antonio, Austin, Dallas........now Harlingen, McAllen and Brownsville.

Catch up with the times, SPI.

[SouthPadreLive]

Originally Posted by Swells

New York City and Austin went the same way, Feets. It's a mess no matter how you cut the cheese.

Sam

Smoking is bad sure enough.
I quit after a heart attack, Wife still smokes and it bothers me more each day.
It’s not the second hand smoke that gets me, it’s they fact that every facet of a smokers life revolves around that pack of smokes.

We can’t go anywhere until she finds those smokes or a lighter, our grandson even coughs like crazy in the car if she lights up.

I would love to try and help/force her to quit except for the fact that menopausal women have used that defense successfully in murder trials!


I would also prefer a no smoking south padre but if you insist on cutting the cheese you should go outside…LOL

[mermaid66]

The entire COUNTRY of France is now non-smoking in restaurants and public places.

[RayDean]

Well, thats all the reason I need !! If their is ANY country I want to be like it is France!! If they are smoke free we should be too! After all, look at all the other areas France has lead the way. Like the space race, Vietnam, and well.....their must be something they lead the way.

[Swells]

The question I ask myself is whether the restaurants and other indoors venues want to have a no-smoking policy. It is their business. If it is a matter that should be elevated to the BOA for an ordinance, well so be it. Cops don't like "ciggie-butt duty" but have to answer a call if there's a ordinance on the books and a complaint. It really is of no matter to me.

Funny, I have been in the Clean Air business since 1991, starting with the Texas Air Control Board - and yes I smoke. But indoor air pollution is actually regulated by the Texas Department of Health, which has no regulations against indoor smoking. Nope, it is up to local municipalities to justify a no-smoking rule or ordinance based on nuisance. So, is smoking a nuisance for you in the local public joints or not? If it is, speak up.

Funny we have come such a long way. Not fifty years ago everything smoked, from fireplaces to kerosene lamps and candles to burning dumps. If you had a bunch of brush and leaves, you burned it, right in your yard. In 1949, one photographer documented it being so dark at noon in Pittsburgh that the street lamps were lit, because of all the steel and iron mills. In the early 60's when I was a kid, Grand Central Station in New York was so dirty with train smoke that my nice white shirt turned gray in 20 minutes. We sure have come a long way. They say China is like those old days I'm using for historical reference - hope the Olympics goes OK.

Forgetting all that, some people now even want to regulate outdoors smoking. Indeed, during the last several years there was a petition to ban smoking on the beach. Of course, those crazy Californians have already thought about that one - yet half their state is currently having wildfires, with some of the worst air quality in the U.S.

In our little town we don't need to sign any stinking petitions; just call an Alderman and see if they'll carry an agenda item. Email even works! What are you waiting for ... somebody to dial the phone or write a message?

[RayDean]

A smoker should have the right to poison the air they breath. A business person should have the right to decide whether or not they want the air in their business to be clean or smoky. Then you, gentle readers, have the right to stay the H _ _ _ out of said business. Use your rights. Leave the smokers alone. Wouldn't you at least admit that it makes no sense to ban smoking in a tobacco shop?? Yet that is in fact the law in some cities. Oh yes, lets protect the people who sell tobacco from second hand smoke?

This seems off topic, however, since you asked...I wouldn't make it against the law to drink and drive. ( On the other hand I hate monster trucks whether you are sober or not). What I would do, is make it so that if you commit any crime, such as hitting someone or something, you pay the price. By that I mean, if you hit anyone or anything, the penalty would be just as if you had done so on purpose!! Hmmm?? Is the penalty for a sober person, in Texas, deliberately running over someone?? Jail time, or possibly a death penalty?? Then that is what they should face!! It is insane to me, that just because you are drunk, you can hit someone and do little or no jail time at all. No one holds a gun to your head, forcing you to drink. However, I would give you free choice. Drink or not, but if you drink and you hurt someone, well being drunk doesn't get you off. Remember, you asked.

Back to the topic. I don't like it that tobacco is legal. However, we can't outlaw it without creating another mess like drugs or alcohol. However, since we can't outlaw it ( Wanna do time for sneaking a Marlboro from Canada?) then we need to allow reasonable use. Yes, even public use. With that, let the public ( business owners ) decide if they wish to have tobacco used in their work place or not.

[Ann]

RayDean,

First, I don't know if you're a man or woman, but if you pay attention to the news at all, you know women in particular are getting heart and lung related diseases at early ages if they smoke, even a few cigarettes a day. They are dying years before their normal life expectancy.

Why would anyone want to contribute to that?

If you allow smoking in your business, you are contributing to those diseases in others because second hand smoke is a killer. This is not just about you and your right to kill yourself.

The reason so many States and even countries are banning smoking has to do with what the resulting diseases are COSTING taxpayers for medical care for those who do not have insurance.

[RayDean]

Ok, this is an old thread. Everyone please re-read the entire thread. You will see we are all making the same arguments. I jumped back in because someone used France as a shining example. I find it hard to give France credit for doing much of anything right in about the last 100 years. Use logic or facts but please don't tell me to do something because France does it.

On Padre Island you can assume that most bars will allow smoking. Do those of you who object to smoking go to these bars anyway? Do you ever approach the owners and express your opinion?? If not, why not? Same with restaurants or other businesses. Let them decide for themselves. However, voice your opinion to the owners. They will do what they think is right.

I suppose it is an interesting argument, that we must protect others from smoke because we all pay the health costs. However, where does that stop? Perhaps we should require helmets for motorcyclists?? Don't we pay the health costs for those who get into accidents but can't otherwise afford to pay? Oh thats right, some states already have that law. Then should we not require helmets for car drivers?? Pro race car drivers drive 200mph , have horrible crashes, and walk away. They wear protective clothes, and helmets. Shouldn't all drivers wear helmets and possibly protective clothes?? Someone could get in a wreck, have no health insurance, and then we end up paying the costs! Wouldn't it be worth it?? If we saved one life?? Yes, I know people who have died of lung cancer. I also know even more who have died in cars. Where do you draw the line when trying to save us from each other and from ourselves? ( Ok, this last paragraph and indeed the last post I wrote was somewhat offensive to me. However, it is at least in part to make a point.)
I suppose at some point Padre Island will join the others. I think that is sad. I refuse to agree that because France, or Harlingen or anyone else does it that it is a good idea to ban smoking. It is a better idea to use the power of your dollars. It is a better idea to not smoke, and not go to places that smoke. Make your dollars talk loud enough and no laws are needed. Of course, you have to be responsible and take control of your life without trying to control ever one else as well.
( To those who ask, and you know who you are, did you reread the thread yet?? If so, you know by now whether I smoke, whether I have smoking in my work environment, whether I frequent places that allow smoking. )

[Tim]

And see, this is the problem with our business on the island. Owners refuse to change to accommodate the wants and needs of customers from off the island. We are too isolated and insulated to understand what people expect these days.

They expect non-smoking restaurants!

They expect healthy food in those restaurants!

How can we say we want to attract families and then have our restaurants filled with smoke? Do you know the damage smoke does to the lungs of kids?

As long as we think only of our own needs and do not cater to the outside world, our businesses will continue to struggle. Look at our return tourism rate.......it is dismal compared to other tourist areas.

Our ads can get them here once, but they find an ugly main street and a backward business community with terrible customers service and they do not come back. A few businesses are doing the right thing, but they suffer from the incompetence of others.

RayDean, I think France was used only as an example of the fact that AN ENTIRE COUNTRY (THERE ARE OTHERS) has banned it. You only jumped on France as a way to defuse the argument and get yoru own way. I suspect you are a long-time smoker and see your addiction threatened. I sympathize with that, but not at the cost of my business, my health and my family.

[Swells]

Thanks for bringing the conversation back to where it should be Tim, and no offense Ray Dean. The entire premis of anti-smoking ordinances is that second-hand smoke is a nuisance to people in enclosed areas around them. Period. That's it!

"Nuisance" is defined as a condition which is harmful to a victim or reduces the value of his or her home and property. It is one of the oldest common laws (ingress and egress is another). You can be a nuisance to yourself, such as smoking, but you can't be a nuisance to somebody else.

After 25 years of lawsuits, starting with airline stewardesses (remember those?) who claimed second hand smoke created a nuisance, much of that nuisance is set in terms of medical impacts, from asthma and bronchitis to lung and throat cancer. Plus, many people simply are repulsed by the smell of burning tobacco - which is fine under nuisance tort law.

But do we need it? I would hate to adopt an ordinance simply because Austin or France did. I think the businesses, local voters, and tourist industry should be consulted. That's the smart way to do it.

I think you'll find a mixed bag. Many bars and restaurants such as Wanna, Boomerang's, Louie's, Amberjack's, and Dorado's already have outside areas where you can smoke, so no big effect there. Some are completely enclosed. A few of the enclosed businesses deliberately cater to clients who smoke like stoves and will resent such an anti-smoking ordinance ... but others are more refined establishments with a discriminating customer base that actually might support such a measure.

Doing a little research is important to see if special exemptions such as enclosed areas for smoking (with separate A/C systems), and other tweaks to a proposed anti-smoking ordinance would be reasonable, justified, and work in most all cases. There, that's my point. -sam

[SouthPadreLive]

Dang it Tim

I have to agree with you.
Although I don’t have a store front or restaurant I am unique in as much as I have to deal with my clients several times during the course of business.

Each time we complete a wedding or event I ask them to complete a brief survey about their experience.

Complaints
# 1 is rude or uncaring or unknowledgeable staff
#2 misrepresented lodging as resort when it is far from it
(These people see the sandals resort commercials and think they will find that here for $59 a night)
#3 smoking in areas where their children are present.
#4 asking for non smoking rooms and getting one that smells like an ash tray.
#5 No or slow response to complaints.

Now I will not name names, and there are many who are simply great but we never hear about those.
We no longer make certain direct recommendations because we feel just awful when we hear some of these horror stories.

We now send everyone to trip advisor to read the reviews. We wish more owners would read their reviews and promptly address those directly on trip advisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?q=south+padre&sub-search=Go

Very interesting info on here, see if you can find the owner who personally addresses the negative issues

[landshark]

We can debate this issue to no end or we can go with common sense being it's just plain nasty to be in an enclosed area with someone expelling ripe lung smoke. It stinks. It's irritating. It's freakin' rude. Some cigars, clove cigarettes, and whatever else smoked smell so overwhelmingly bad it just makes plain common sense to take it outside. Now come on people get past the "stupid" and get with the program.
We now have in place an ordinance that prohibits smoking in all Town owned facilities. Let's ammend this to include all public buildings. It's the right thing to do.