Seattle Smoking Ban Bad for Business

Four months into Washington State's smoking ban, evidence shows it is a steamroller paving a one-way road to hell for restauranteurs and bar owners -- especially those in working-class areas.

Donna Kerns, who owns the White Elephant Bar & Grill in Everett with her husband, said, "This is killing business." Kerns, 63, estimated her sales have fallen 60 percent, and she has let go of both her bartenders — now she and her husband work the bar. People used to wait in the parking lot for her to open. At times now, the only cars there belong to Kerns and her husband.

"I just want to run out into traffic one day and say, 'Hit me; put me out of my misery,' " Kerns said.

The Spar Cafe, Bar & Tobacco Merchant, an institution in Olympia built in 1935, went up for sale the day after the smoking ban started.

Alan McWain, a second-generation owner, said sales started falling after the ban and haven't stopped. His liquor sales are down 40 percent from 12 months ago and food sales fell 10.5 percent. He said he also is bringing in $30,000 less in gross sales on tobacco a month.

"I can't keep absorbing that," McWain said.

Business at the Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle's University District has fallen by 50 percent, but the decline leveled off in February, owner Gus Hellthaler said.

The hardest-hit period was happy hour, which was popular with carpenters, house painters and plumbers who came in after work.

"Oftentimes the winter months are slow for the tavern, but this has gone beyond anything in the past," said Hellthaler, who has cut the bar's hours. He is putting more money into advertising and attracting musicians.

"It's the sort of thing that has its greatest impact on the working-class places like the Blue Moon, and the upper-class places are less affected," Hellthaler said.

I am shocked -- shocked! -- that a policy pushed by smug liberals is actually harming the poor. Unprecedented! How can this be?

I've decided to flaunt smoking bans whenever and wherever possible. So far I've smoked in purportedly smokefree joints (with the blessing of proprietors) in New York City and Seattle. I also accidentally brought a lit cigarette into a restaurant here in Washington, DC that is now smokefree and was not asked to stamp it out.

I figure if legislators aren't going to respect my rights and the rights of property owners, I'm damn well not going to obey their unjust laws. Fuck 'em.