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| Smoke-Free Columbia: Smoking decks open in wake of city ban |
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Oct 3, 2008 |
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By ADAM BEAM, abeam@thestate.com
Columbia?s smoking ban is only two days old, but some Columbia bar and restaurant owners ? including a city councilman ? have found a way around it.
Restaurants across the city are opening smoking decks, complete with bars, so customers can continue to smoke while they drink.
Some decks are more elaborate than others.
On River Drive, a strip club has opened a deck surrounded with an 8-foot wall so its customers can smoke and still ogle the dancers.
Smoking decks are a trend that follows smoking bans across the country, said Tom Sponseller, executive director of the South Carolina Hospitality Association.
?That?s a segment of their customer base, especially a bar, where the customers might stay longer than somebody just eating dinner,? Sponseller said.
Congaree Grill, owned by City Councilman Kirkman Finlay, has had a deck facing Harden Street for years. But after the smoking ban passed, Finlay added a bar on the deck for smokers.
Finlay was one of four council members who voted for a no-smoking ordinance in 2006 that exempted bars.
In May, after Councilman E.W. Cromartie changed his position, the city passed a comprehensive smoking ban for all bars and restaurants. Finlay and Councilman Daniel Rickenmann, who also owns restaurants, voted against that ban.
Finlay said he voted against it because it was unfair for business owners to be penalized for something a customer did. But he admitted the ban could increase business on his deck.
?It?s a huge advantage to ban smoking everywhere else because it drives people to my smoking venue,? Finlay said. ?But I still don?t think it?s fair to make the business owner pay for a crime committed by a patron.?
Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said he does not think the smoking decks are exploiting a loophole in the ban because the ordinance is designed to protect people from secondhand smoke.
?If you are outside then you don?t have secondhand smoke,? Coble said. ?While we certainly don?t want to do anything to encourage anyone to smoke, the ordinance is based on indoor smoking.?
Finlay said while the deck is mainly for smokers, he would not market it as a ?smoking deck,? saying he prefers to concentrate on marketing Congaree Grill?s menu.
But Jimmie Ellis, owner of Savannah?s Gentlemen?s Club on River Drive in Richland County, is running ads in the Free-Times advertising the ?Smoking Deck at Savannah?s.?
The deck is surrounded by an 8-foot wall but has no roof, Ellis said. That way, patrons can still enjoy adult entertainment.
?It just fits like a glove,? Ellis said.
Ellis said he expects to take about a 20 percent hit on his business for about 10 months because of the smoking ban, based on what has happened in other areas that have banned smoking.
?After that, people have adjusted, and your business comes back,? he said. ?Smoking and having a cocktail are things that go hand in hand for our culture. Even more so in the South, it is going to be a culture shock and quite a bit of adjustment for patrons.?
Vicki Cameron, who lives in Charleston but comes to Columbia about once a month, was enjoying a cigarette on Congaree Grill?s deck Thursday afternoon.
?I just ask for outside seating automatically. I?m not that type of smoker.?
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.
? 2008 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com |
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