Why vote again on smoking?
By Mike Clevenger
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Well, Fargo, here we go again. It seems like just yesterday that we were asked to go to the polls to decide if smoking should be allowed in bars and restaurants that met a certain criteria, and the people voted and won by a considerable amount of votes. The popular vote voiced that the complete smoking ban is not what the residents of Fargo wanted, but it appears again that the vote of the people just simply doesn’t mean that much. In my case, because of my affiliation with a hotel and the need for me to serve children, I was forced to build a wall, install a new HVAC system that had never been contaminated with smoke, and install new carpet, along with all new furnishings, at a total cost of a little more than $80,000. But I didn’t complain because it’s simply a cost of doing business. Over the past three or so years, I’ve tried everything to get people to come into my “clean,” “smoke-free” environment to no avail. I tried fine dining with food prepared by a master chef, Texas hold’em poker and just about everything else I could think of, but the only people I could attract to that nonsmoking area, which encompasses roughly a third of my entire bar, were hockey and basketball families staying in the hotel for tournaments. It wasn’t until just recently when I opened a sushi bar that I’m finally able to draw customers to that area. It appears that this whole smoking thing started again because of the so-called “level playing field” that we needed to have with our neighbors in Moorhead. This has nothing to do with the “playing field theory” because Moorhead didn’t vote: it was done in St. Paul, and they are simply forced to live by the rules that were imposed on them. If there’s going to be a total smoking ban in Fargo, it should be imposed by the Legislature rather than by a small group of people who have nothing better to do with their time. The issue of secondhand smoke comes up all the time- for the customers as well as my employees - but there are a couple of things that you need to know. I have 62 employees, and roughly 85% of them smoke. I have a banquet facility that seats more than 300, and, as mentioned before, a third of the bar/restaurant is a nonsmoking sushi bar. If any of those nine or 10 employees, myself included being a nonsmoker, felt uncomfortable working in a smoking environment, I would be more than happy to position their duties in a nonsmoking area. For the customers, it’s easier. This should simply come down to whom you choose to patronize and whom you don’t. How tough is that? There are 121 liquor licenses in the city of Fargo, and out of that 121 there are only 19 bars that you would be “forced to go into” that are totally smoking; the other 102 bars/restaurants are either smoke free or you have a choice, as with our establishment. This whole nonsmoking battle is simply about those 19 bars in Fargo that don’t offer you a choice. Who cares? You have another 102 places that you can go to have a steak or a beer. It wasn’t that long ago that the residents of Fargo voted and told the city and its commissioners what they wanted. It’s a blatant waste of time, energy and taxpayers’ money to even have it on the ballot again. Bottom line: Let Bismark, not Fargo, decide my fate as a businessman. If legislators say no to smoking, I say no problem.