Smoke-free is smart business

Like a lot of our neighbors, when the issue went before voters nearly 16 months ago, we weren’t sure where we stood on the question of whether Palmer should go smoke-free.

The change was narrowly approved at the ballot box in October 2012, and went into effect at the start of 2013. But a year into the change, the results seem clear.

Smoke-free has been good for Palmer.

That’s according to a recent survey of Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce members who returned glowing reviews for the new ordinance.

“Eighty percent of the people think it has been a positive impact for business,” said the chamber’s executive director, Ralph Renzi.

Eighty-five percent agreed Palmer is better off now, and 68 percent agreed that being smoke-free has increased downtown commerce, the survey shows.

“I discovered the best cheeseburger in the world at the Palmer Bar. I’m so happy Palmer is smoke-free,” reads one comment Renzi received.

We admit we were among the locals who re-discovered the Palmer Bar since the change. We love going there for dinner after work and staying for a few drinks to visit with friends who happen in.

By going smoke-free, Palmer joined a small group of Alaska communities that have done so, including communities as diverse as Unalaska and Anchorage, Bethel and Juneau. Advocates working for smoke-free laws have made it their goal to get similar laws passed in communities statewide.

It’s been 50 years this month since the famous U.S. Surgeon General’s “Report on Smoking and Health.”

“The 1964 landmark report, released by Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry, was the first federal government report linking smoking and ill health, including lung cancer and heart disease,” according to a government press release about the anniversary.

According to a recent report released this month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, called “The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General,” more than 20 million people in the U.S. have died from smoking in the past half century. The same report says cessation efforts have saved 8 million lives.

While the Palmer ordinance was pitched, in part, as a means to ensure local bar workers weren’t harmed by secondhand smoke, we think our neighbors probably had reasons of their own when they voted for this rule change.

Along with helping protect the health of those workers, we think there were people who also probably wanted to go to a bar without leaving smelling like an ashtray; to enjoy a burger and a beer and not have to take a shower and wash their clothes immediately upon returning home.

Another way of saying that is our neighbors want to support downtown bars with their dollars, and if the Palmer chamber survey is any indication, voters have backed up their words with their actions.

So thank you, Palmer, for convincing us that smoke-free laws are smart business. We’ll see you at the bar.