Put this in your pipe and please don't smoke it
There's a new bar in Logan Circle called Halo. Yeah, that's not a big deal, really, except for the fact that we'll all go there when Christian moves into the neighborhood, but the reason that it's making news is that it's smoke-free. Granted, the reason that it's smoke free was that, on the very first day that it opened, the smoke in the tiny club about suffocated everyone in there, but it was still a voluntary decision.
From the Washington Post article where I'm getting all this:
In spite of his new, fresher scent, Bailey doesn't support a blanket smoking ban for Washington's bars and clubs. "I'm glad I was able to make my own decision about this," he says.I love hearing this. As a non-smoker, I've always been selfishly in favor of a smoking ban, but there's a bigger part of me that hates to see decisions like that made by laws. If there's a market for smoke-free restaurants and bars, then people will make the decision themselves to open those places. I just hate to see that decision made by lawmakers. Let the people decide, which, in this case, they have.
3 comments:
Very interesting. You know, Lexington, KY, my old home, passed a smoking ban that went into effect only a few months before I left (this was kind of amazing actually - the heart - that isn't NC - of tobacco country gets a smoking ban). Anyway, I was all in favor of it - being a selfish non-smoker (and an ex-smoker which somehow made me super-sensitive to smoke), and I have to say it was nice when it was implemented...if only for the side benefit that bars started offering loads of seating outside. BUT, having moved on to Nashville, where there is no smoking ban, but it seems that a lot of the places we frequent have implemented their own ban, I have to say that my attitude has changed a bit on this. It just seems more right. And when I now go up to Lexington to visit and we go out - the smoking ban has made the places we frequent a bit more, well, bitter? Hard to explain - but there is a different, kind of "we're being oppressed kind of feeling" - that's probably a bit too dramatic - but it's something like that. BUT really the clincher for me being against government implemented smoking bans was a late-night visit to an Applebees, where the smell from the food and beer that had absorbed into the carpet was so intense that they could really have used a bit of smoke - or something to hide that awful smell. Of course, that's what I get for going to an Applebees - at all - but still. Anyway, I still think that a smoking ban in some form (like with a compromise or something) has some merit - but the across-the-board ban that Lexington implemented, while legally airtight (they said it was all about employees being exposed to harmful chemicals), is really restrictive, and there are just some places where people should be allowed to smoke. Okay, sorry for the lengthy comment on this, but it's been a subject of MANY discussions I've had in the past year...how can I NOT comment?!
Wait, did you say Christian is moving back to DC?
I like the voluntary ban idea. I don't smoke so it's nice to have places where you can go without having to worry about your jacket reaking for a week afterwards. Yet I also enjoy being able to occasionally visit a typical neighborhood dive. There are some places where the smoke fits. Couldn't imagine sitting in some hole in the wall blues club listening to the music without a haze of smoke boosting the acoustics.
-Scott
Christian moved back to DC?! Then why are there still 10 books about the eagles at my house? ;)
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