IT is clear that city Councilman Steve Holmes is a sensitive guy who is worried about the health of waiters and waitresses forced to breathe second-hand smoke in Honolulu restaurants. Where there’s smoke
there’s ire, StevieI'm sure those thousands of waiters and waitresses are going to thank him for saving their lungs as they head to the mainland to find jobs after many of the restaurants they worked for here go out of business.
Second-hand smoke has become the political boogeyman of our time. And the health of restaurant employees has become the rallying cry for anti-smoking zealots. Why? Because it was clear that simply ordering restaurants and bars to ban smoking because second-hand smoke was bad for customers wasn't going to fly. The restaurant industry smashed that ball into the back court by pointing out that people can choose whether or not to enter a restaurant.
But what about employees? Aha! They are trapped! They are subjected to hours and hours of internal pollution! So Holmes and his cohorts made these helpless lab rats the centerpiece of their anti-smoking crusade.
What is amazing is that this hysteria against smoking in restaurants and bars is basically theoretical. Has anyone done a survey of restaurant employees to find out what percent of them are first-hand smokers? After all, if government is going to step in and save citizens from themselves, it should be clear that the citizens deserve saving.
I don't think banning smoking is necessary to save someone who smokes anyway, eats fatty foods, doesn't get any exercise and considers alcohol one of the major food groups. I worked in lots of restaurants and most of my colleague's health problems were self-inflicted.
And make no mistake, banning smoking in restaurants is just the beginning. Holmes et al won't rest until smoking is snubbed out in all watering holes and eateries.
This enterprise wouldn't be so ridiculous if Honolulu was not dependent on tourism. And many of our tourists come from cultures where smoking is widely practiced. I've never understood why Holmes is so willing to put a wooden stake into the heart of tourism. It's fine to want to protect the environment, but a healthy society needs business and business needs customers. The restaurant and bar industry is essential to Hawaii's health as a tourist destination.
All over the country, city councils are desperate to revive and stimulate their cities' economic life. But the Honolulu City Council is like Jack Kevorkian, always trying to pull the plug on local businesses.
Perhaps there is a way to get through to Holmes. Listen, Steve. Your heart is in the right place. Smoking is stupid. But some people are going to do it. It's legal and it's a free country.
So we need to set up a place where these people - visitors and tourists - can smoke and not bother anyone else, right? A room, say. Or special rooms all over the city. And they won't cost the city a dime.
Smokers will be able to gather and smoke. Non-smokers who want to hang out with smokers can also get in these rooms, OK? And, while the smokers are sitting there, maybe they should be able to get a sandwich or a drink. And maybe there will be people willing to work in these places to serve these smokers their drinks and food; people willing to work in a place with secondhand smoke. And we can put a sign outside pointing out that these are hangouts for smokers, so non-smokers won't be affected.
And Steve, we could call these places restaurants and bars. They could be run by businessmen willing to take a financial risk that there still are places where smokers want to go. And other business people will be free to open restaurants and bars that won't allow smoking. They have a term for this, Steve. It's called free enterprise.
