Smoking ban takes effect for workplaces, delayed for bars

Allegheny County’s smoking ban began yesterday for many public buildings, including… Allegheny County’s smoking ban began yesterday for many public buildings, including workplaces, sporting facilities and movie theaters, but has been delayed from affecting restaurants, bars and casinos.

The original intention of the new law was to ban smoking almost everywhere but private residences and tobacco stores. But after a number of complaints from some lawmakers who made amendments to the smoking ordinance, Allegheny County passed a modified version of the bill.

Two Downtown restaurant owners sued Allegheny County last month, claiming that the new law would hurt their businesses. Common Pleas Judge Michael A. Della Vecchia then issued an injunction to the bill on Dec. 22 and delayed the ban from affecting restaurants, bars and casinos until May 1. The county will seek further legal clarification from the state legislature.

However, some people doubt that the ban will ever affect restaurants and bars. Jason Sipe, a manager at Fuel and Fuddle on Oakland Avenue, said that many restaurant workers have been “waiting until the last minute” to deal with the issue.

“A lot of people don’t think this is going to happen,” he said.

Sipe said that approximately 80 percent of the people at the bar smoke. While many college students frequent Fuel and Fuddle for food and alcohol, the customers eating at the restaurant never complain about the smoke, according to Sipe.

Another reason why Sipe has never heard customers complain about smokers could be because of the open kitchen, which is visible from the dining sections instead of located in a back room, that has a large hood that filters out the smoke. However, another reason why customers don’t complain is because they are used it.

“People expect smoking at a bar,” he said.

Although the smoking ban is intended to protect restaurant employees who are unwillingly exposed to second-hand smoke, Sipe said that nearly half of Fuel and Fuddle’s employees, including himself, smoke.

Vic Bovalino, a manager at Joe Mama’s on Forbes Avenue, also said that many restaurant employees are smokers, including his co-workers.

“I don’t know why that is,” Bovalino said. “It’s just the nature of the beast.”

Bovalino is confident that if the ban eventually passes for restaurants and bars, it will not affect business at Joe Mama’s. The restaurant used to have a non-smoking section four years ago, but because only a few groups of people would use the smoking section, the restaurant limited it to two tables.

Only a few people smoke there, even at the bar, Bovalino said.

Because Joe Mama’s mainly serves the people living in Oakland, Bovalino said that it would probably not lose as many customers as restaurants in Allegheny County that border other counties.

Restaurants that border other counties would probably see more of a decline in customers than the ones in Oakland because it would only take people a couple of minutes to get to a place where they could smoke, Bovalino said.

As for his customers, some non-smokers don’t care about the smoking ban, while a few are adamantly in favor of it. Bovalino, a non-smoker, said that he was not personally bothered by the smoke.

“If people want to smoke, it doesn’t bother me,” he said.

But while the non-smokers may be somewhat ambivalent, Bovalino said that most of the smokers were opposed.

Sipe also said that most smokers were not in favor of the bill.

“The last thing I want to do is go outside in negative 12 degree weather just to smoke,” Sipe said. “It’s all good in California because it’s always warm, but not in Pittsburgh.”