For anyone who hasn’t had enough of the smoking ban talk, the city announced today it will re-broadcast the Wichita City Council’s two-hour discussion that led to a 4-3 vote in favor of a smoking ban in all businesses that allow people younger than age 18 to enter. The debate, which features about 15 speakers who waited hours to voice their support or opposition to the ban, will air on cable channel 7 tonight at 8 p.m. Then the city will put it on at 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday.
You can also view it online. (It wouldn’t play in my Mozilla Firefox browser, but it worked on Internet Explorer.)
It may be another two months before the City Council emerges with a compromised smoking ban proposal. That’s because City Council members Jeff Longwell and Lavonta Williams are still out and about, meeting with bar and restaurant owners and reviewing what other cities have done. Longwell said it may be 45 to 60 days before a draft ordinance is ready. Despite the council’s apparent gridlock on the issue, Longwell said council members want the same thing. “Everybody wants to eliminate secondhand smoke,” he said. The question, he said, is whether to do that with a mandate or by asking businesses for some voluntary reductions in secondhand smoke or some combination.
Meanwhile, advocates on all sides of the issue have flooded the 30-minute public agenda at council meetings, mostly with repetitious arguments. (People get up to five minutes to speak in front of the council — and whoever is watching on cable Channel 7.) State officials also are considering a statewide ban, although its prospects in the legislative session are uncertain.
The American Lung Association just put out its State of Tobacco Control report and gave Kansas an “F.”
For anyone who hasn’t had enough of the smoking ban talk, the city announced today it will re-broadcast the Wichita City Council’s two-hour discussion that led to a 4-3 vote in favor of a smoking ban in all businesses that allow people younger than age 18 to enter. The debate, which features about 15 speakers who waited hours to voice their support or opposition to the ban, will air on cable channel 7 tonight at 8 p.m. Then the city will put it on at 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday.