Council gets an earful on smoke-free ordinance

PALMER — What would making the last remaining businesses that still allow smoking go smoke-free do to Palmer? City council members got a boatload of guesses Tuesday.

In the end, Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson moved to postpone action until a full council was present to vote on an ordinance that would make all businesses in the city smoke-free. Councilman Ken Erbey was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. A 4-2 vote ensued, with only councilman Richard Best and councilwoman Katherine Vanover objecting to putting the decision off to Oct. 11.

But for more than 90 minutes before that happened, members of the public who filled the council chambers to overflowing took turns giving the city council their two-cents.

Opinions were all over the map. Most bar owners worried about a drop in revenue. But at least one testified going smoke-free is good for business. Bar patrons ran the gamut — smokers and non-smokers. People on both sides said promised they’d spend more time in Palmer bars or desert them altogether if the ordinance passed.

“I still remember the first time I boarded a plane and knew I wouldn’t have to worry about breathing the cigarette smoke of any other passengers,” said Jeanette Somers, who favors passing the ordinance. “Smoking is dangerous to anyone in the smoker’s vicinity.”

Those speaking against the ordinance said it’s a matter of choice.

“Making choices is a daily routine for me,” said Mary Lou Coddington, owner of Palmer Bar. “I don’t believe it’s anyone’s choice but mine to go smoke-free.”

She said she’s never had any complaints about the smoke. She did go smoke-free for one day for an event. She made money that day, but not a lot.

“Had I had my regular customers in there I would’ve made a lot more money,” she said.

Local accountant Chuck Griffin said he opposes the ordinance.

“I think it’s a freedom issue,” he said. “What are you going to do next? Tell the people of Palmer they can’t smoke in their homes?”

A number of people pointed out that most of Palmer is already smoke-free. The ordinance essentially impacts four bars — Palmer Bar, Klondike Mike’s Dance Hall and Saloon, the Moose Head Saloon and the Caboose Lounge, located within the Valley Hotel — and the Palmer Moose Lodge, which still permit smoking.

But Becky Stoppa, communications director for Alaska Family Services and a longtime advocate smoking cessation campaigns, disputed that.

“This is about more than the four bars, this is about the future of Palmer and taking the lead,” she said.

Another argument against the ordinance — if smokers can’t smoke at Palmer bars they’re just going to drive up the road to the numerous establishments outside of city limits that still allow smoking indoors, such as the Elks Lodge, which is located outside the city of Palmer.

On the other hand, argued Cherie LeBlanc-Shue, “if that were true, Palmer would be impacted greatly by the fact that Anchorage went smoke-free.”

Elli Shomer with Rumrunners, which recently took over the Mat-Su Resort and made the bar there smoke-free, said the move is actually a good one for businesses. It saves on insurance and health care costs. And it hasn’t cost her customers.

“As long as you provide someplace safe and warm for your customers to go smoke, it’s actually good business,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.