Now, we all know that the recently passed ordinance banning smoking within 25′ of the entrance or air vents of an establishment have been moved somewhere to the bottom of the police’s enforcement priority, down there with pulling over people driving 56 MPH in a 55 MPH zone and arresting car prowlers in Wallingford.
So, what’s to do for the folks who are bugged by the smoke? K.A.M. writes:
I’m curious if you know the proper way to go about having the 25 foot smoking ban enforced without becoming the neighborhood business bitch. Now that the weather is nicer, we like to keep our front door open to our store- which often leads to cigarette smoke wafting into the store. We’ve posted two signs that clearly say no smoking within 25 feet, but the other stores/restaurants don’t stop their patrons from taking part in this action. What’s a Wallyhood girl to do!
What indeed? Advice welcome in comments, and remember people, before picking up the “you should move out of Wallingford if you don’t live the way I live” banner that seems to have infected the comment streams recently, remember that she’s trying to do this in a way that isn’t bitchy. Help her.
I wonder if it would work to provide a comfortable, welcoming place 25 feet away from the entryway – maybe business owners could pony up the money for a comfortable bench, a covered area, ash trays, a plant; a neighborhood grant might also cover the cost if that’s what the neighborhood wanted to spend its grant allocation on. I don’t think it’s the business owners’ responsibility to encourage smokers to obey the ordinance, but because they’re the ones who are affected, and because police aren’t going to enforce it, they might have to take it upon themselves to coax smokers away from their doors. Also, it seems that depending where you are along 45th, 25 feet away from one person’s business is going to be right in front of someone else’s business. A centralized spot for smokers might be helpful to everyone. Business owners might also try posting funny (not bitchy) signs — people seem to respond better to humor than to sanctimony.
If the smoking is only intermittent, would a fan in the doorway work?
Ultimately, if some people who smoke are cool and will smoke somewhere else if a comfortable spot is provided and they’re not being ordered to, and if a fan would alleviate the problem for the a-holes who refuse to move, perhaps business owners and customers can get through the summer w/o breathing a bunch of 2d-hand smoke and smokers can enjoy a cigarette w/o having to march to Gas Works Park to do it.
KAM — thanks for the question. I’m a smoker & I try really hard to be polite and to avoid impacting others with my smoke, but since the smoking ban (and all those big, bold signs that seem to say SMOKERS NOT WELCOME!) I’ve become a bit defensive. One business on Stone Way removed their butt can & put up 3 or 4 SMOKERS NOT WELCOME-style signs. Somehow, it makes me walk right past them to another business. Not rational, but that’s how it seems to play out for me.
So thanks for the question.
I agree with Erica that creating a place smokers can go is the best option because we don’t really want to be standing around bothering people anyway. Don’t think this has to be a big expensive endeavor. I always choose to smoke where there’s an ashcan. It means someone doesn’t mind if I’m there. So if you can get one of those (or a bucket with sand) and put it somewhere where the smoke won’t affect you, that just might do the trick. You could then put a fun little sign in your window pointing people to that spot. Most will comply. I, for one, would be grateful. Right after the smoking ban took effect, I noticed a lot of outdoor trashcans disappearing, and often have to walk block after block after block to dispose of a butt. Or stick it in my pocket & smell up the next business I walk into.
Those who don’t move to the smoker’s spot are jerks & you probably can’t reason with them. However, I would advise against using that the passive-aggressive Seattle annoyance cough (oh no, I walked past a smoker & can’t breathe & I’m gonna DIIIIEEEE!). When someone does that to me, I’m tempted to accidentally exhale in their direction.
@Erica. We can’t smoke at Gasworks anymore either — at least not if there’s another person within 25 ft…
Good luck KAM! And thanks!
Maybe initially try a charm offensive. Perhaps a humorous sign?
It’s my understanding that the Health Department and not the police enforce this. Maybe they have some ideas, and, of course you can always try complaining to them. You can’t be the first business with this problem.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/drugs/tobacco/faq.aspx
Yeah, I agree that some sort of central smoking place might be the best way to go. Although, I’m not sure who would take it upon themselves to create such a thing. From what I can see, there really isn’t a place along the main 45th Street business district that is 25 feet away from a business entrance. So, if you move away from one you are now in front of another. Also, the fan in the doorway is an interesting idea, although I’m not sure how business owners could do that without blocking their doorways.
Also, the question is: who are the smokers? Are they stepping outside of a restaurant or bar to have a quick smoke and then going back in? If yes, then maybe the restaurant and bar owners might want to figure out a joint solution that would help folks? Or, is it people just walking down the street smoking while they walk? This is more difficult to address. Or, is it people who sit on any surface they can find and have a smoke, regardless of their business in the neighborhood?
As I write this, it might be something the business owners (Wallingford Chamber of Commerce) might want to come together to figure out as a group? Do a survey, figure out who the smokers are, what they would need in terms of a place to smoke, figure out what the business owners are willing to do, and then try to address that–either by signs, or a joint place to smoke, or ?
Just some thoughts.
Set up a smoking section in the center turn lane on 45th, which is the only area of that street which is 25 feet from any vents, windows or entrances.
Even people driving by or sitting in traffic on 45th would be within 25 feet of the entrance of many businesses along there. So are they breaking the smoking ban by smoking in their cars? Even if the pedestrians are shooed elsewhere to smoke, there will still be smoke coming in from people smoking in traffic.
At my workplace, the smokers there completely ignore the smoking bans signs and smoke immediately outside doors and vents, and litter their cigaratte butts everywhere. Others smoke in the bathrooms. It actually got much worse once the smoking ban when into effect.
right on doug
I’m a smoker. I’m polite and considerate of others whether they are smokers or not. I do my best to find spots that are off the sidewalk and not in the main pedesterain traffic. But when I’m having a beer at a bar I’m not going to walk a block and half away to smoke my cigarette. I beleive that bars need to provide a receptical of some time for butts. Generally patrons will gravitude for smoke where the ashtray or can is located.
I like the idea of funny signs, and I smiled as I read Chris W.’s post, as I’ve witnessed the “Seattle annoyance cough” at times. Maybe there’s some way to work that situation into a funny sign. As a former smoker, I have a lot of sympathy for the smokers caught by an impossible-to-follow-to-the-letter ordinance. As a health worker, I also appreciate the well-established health effects of second-hand smoke and can understand why people would want to be able to choose to limit their exposure to it. And making it harder for smokers to smoke is actually the point of ordinances like this one on the Public Health level. The evidence is pretty convincing that higher prices for tobacco and fewer “approved smoking areas” are associated with increased quit rates and decreased new starts, and decreased “social acceptability” of smoking overall in the community. Shaming and scolding (bitching) is not, to my knowledge, associated with similar positive effects. So if there is a way to be lighthearted about reminding people of the ordinance, it’s probably a better way.
Well put, Ben.
One thing about Chris W.’s passive-aggressive comment: I”m one of those people who start coughing violently – because I have smoke-triggered asthma – and yes, I might die. Or at least wind up in the hospital, which as happened many times. I realize some folks do it just to make a point, but do understand that sometimes when someone puts a hand over their face and start coughing, it’s because they are trying to avoid having to use albuterol, which is pretty awful.
Thank you to all you considerate smokers – and I know there are many – who have stepped out of the way, or even apologized when busted doing something that blocks me from entering (or leaving) a business. I know the smoking ban has, in part, created the situation. I try to do my part by staying out of the way if I see you smoking. I appreciate those of you who try to keep the smoke away from my poor, shot-to-hell lungs, too.
Oh, and if I get grumpy sometimes, it’s because I’ve actually had – on several occasions – people “shotgun” me to show that you’re smoke won’t hurt me. Fortunately, most eventually call 911 when I hit the ground like a fish out of water.
I don’t know about accommodating smokers in the face of a poorly-conceived ban (and let’s face it, the “right to smoke/right to breathe clean air” conundrum will always be with us), but most smokers won’t deliberately expose/provoke a person with respiratory problems. (Not to discount your terrible experiences, Jacqui!) So posting a sign at a store entrance informing potential smokers that a worker inside has, say, emphysema – and that their smoke enters the workplace – could have an impact. Of course, if this isn’t exactly true, it may raise an ethical issue. Just depends on how desperate/motivated owners are to deter smokers. One can argue that all people’s lungs have a sensitivity to secondhand smoke, as I graphically learned recently from a lung cancer survivor who contracted her illness in just that way.
I’m really bad with eyeballing distances but, to Doug’s point, is it even POSSIBLE to be on the sidewalk anywhere along the main stretch of 45th and NOT be within 25ft of a door, window, or air vent? I mean, I get the goal here but it does seem very hard to accommodate for smokers…
As a non-smoker, I take my business elsewhere when I see businesses not enforcing the smoking ban. Having recently developed a severe allergy to cigarette smoke, I’m more sensitive than ever to this.
How ’bout a 25 foot radius for people talking on cell phones and also a ban on talking on them inside businesses (and vehicles)? Dedicate areas outside – where smokers and cell phone talkers can be separate and leave the rest of the neighborhood livable. And left blowers . . .
Three businesses betweenSunnyside & Corliss on the south side of 45th have butt cans…right next to their doors and yet you still find butts on the sidewalk. If you have a can please empty it at night. I have seen quite a few underage kids pick through them.
To answer the original question–just nicely ask people to move further from the door, because the smoke is blowing in. Most people will move; most people respond to polite requests. Yes, moving probably puts them nearer someone else’s door, but not all merchants keep their door open. It’s the best you can do.
Does this happen a lot? Is there some reason there are often smokers standing outside your store (like being near a bar), or is it just noticeable those times it does happen? As was said before, if it’s a question of a nearby bar or restaurant, talk to the owner about setting up a smoke stand on the other side of their entrance.
If the ban is to be enforced, it should be the business owners responsibility to make sure that the sidewalk is cleaned of debris. We have a small bar close to our home in Wallingford with a daily discovery of beer cans and cigarette butts all over the sidewalk. The big issue, though, is this poorly designed law.
We are now forced to bring our children through groups of smokers and drunkards just to walk to the store or playground. How is this helping us prevent second hand smoke?
Businesses should be able to determine if they are licensed as a smoking or a non-smoking establishment. Smoking establishments need to be required to have appropriate ventilation and the apply for a smoking-establishment permit. This would allow smokers and workers to decide for themselved to enter the establishment, or go elsewehere…still leaving the sidewalks free for our children to use without inhaling second hand smoke.
#19 “Jaime” said:
Businesses should be able to determine if they are licensed as a smoking or a non-smoking establishment. Smoking establishments need to be required to have appropriate ventilation and the apply for a smoking-establishment permit.
As far as I know, there is no “smoking establishment”!
From the above-linked website for the county health dept.: Smoking is now prohibited in all public places and all workplaces in Washington, including restaurants and bars. A vast majority of Seattle & King County businesses have complied with the law.