Smoking ban defeated

Just four days prior to a Nov. 11 City-County Council vote on a plan to eliminate smoking from most public and work environments, one Indianapolis west side restaurant jumped the gun and established its own ban. \nDiana Castaneda, owner of El Comal Inc. Taqueria, has eliminated smoking from her restaurant because of health concerns for her employees and customers.\n"I'm not a smoker, my family doesn't smoke and I am aware of the harms of smoking." Castaneda said. "We don't want to be a restaurant where you walk in and are smothered by smoke. We want to be a restaurant where you can take your family and enjoy eating and not worry about second-hand smoke. It's mainly a health issue."\nFor now the establishment will stand alone. The proposal was defeated in a 5-2 vote by the Council's Rules and Public Policy Committee.\nEmployee Cynthia Perez urged her to consider the idea. Perez, who is a committee member of Latinos Against Tobacco in our Neighborhoods Overcoming Smoke (L.A.T.I.N.O.S.), says she is happy not to have to breathe second-hand smoke constantly and have her hair and clothes smell. \n"I'm excited that my friends and I won't have to inhale cigarette smoke when we are working at El Comal now and in the future," Perez said in a press release. "Also, my clothes and my hair won't have the nasty smell of cigarette smoke."\nFollowing in the footsteps of the many cities nationwide that have adopted no smoking laws, parts of Indiana are now enacting or considering similar legislation. Bloomington passed a law last year banning smoking in all public places, and starting in 2005, the ordinance include bars. Indianapolis-Marion County has also now joined the effort to eliminate smoking in public places, citing health concerns of second-hand smoke. \nThe County has a 50 percent higher lung cancer rate than the U.S. average, and second-hand smoke related morbidity and mortality costs Indianapolis $56 million per year, according to the Indiana State Medical Association's Web site.\nHowever, in a 5-2 vote by the Rules and Public Policy Committee of the Indianapolis City-County Council Nov. 11, the proposal was voted down. The proposal, called "The Smoke-Free Workplace Protection Ordinance," would have required all employers -- with the exception of enclosed bars and off-track betting facilities -- to provide smoke-free workplaces. The plan would have made all Marion County restaurants, bowling alleys, offices and many other work places smoke-free.\nCritics of the proposal expressed concern for business owners and the lack of compromise involved in the drafting of the proposal. A subcommittee of citizens and committee members which was appointed to amend the original version of the proposal failed to reach a compromise and recommend what would have been the new version to the full council. The result was a one-sided proposal that had no chance, according to committee member Rozelle Boyd.\n"There was a great deal of concern about the proposal itself," Boyd said. "Persons from (many) industries were very opposed to it."\nThis vote comes as a disappointment to many who work in conditions where second-hand smoke is inescapable.\n"(L.A.T.I.N.O.S.) knew it would be hard to make the policy for all restaurants," Perez said. "(But) we're still going to work to make the policy."\nIndiana Latino Institute President Aida McCammon acknowledged the problem of smoke not containing itself in designated sections.\n"There are many Latino employees working in restaurants in Marion County," McCammon said in a press release. "A patron can leave a restaurant where smoking is allowed, but the Latino employees that wash dishes, bus tables and clean floors can not leave the smoking sections unattended. They have no choice and are required to breathe the harmful toxins in second-hand smoke."\nMembers of L.A.T.I.N.O.S. presented El Comal Inc. Taqueria with a plaque commending the restaurant for its efforts.\n"(El Comal's policy) makes me more comfortable. I don't feel comfortable being around (smoke) because I know it's harmful," Perez said. "The (smoke-free environment) is just more comfortable to work in."\n-- Contact staff writer Lyndsey Williams at lyjwilli@indiana.edu.