Cally’s goes smoke free
Posted by Brent Finnegan on April 23rd, 2008
It’s a sign of the times. If you’ve been to Cally’s (formerly Calhoun’s) this week, you might have noticed a change in the air. The restaurant and brewery has gone smoke free.
A year ago, the Artful Dodger made the switch. This year, with the addition of Clementine and Blue Nile, smokeless bars downtown outnumber smoky bars 2 – 1.
Downtown bars that don’t allow smoking inside:
The Artful Dodger
Cally’s
Clementine
Blue Nile
Joshua Wilton House
Tini’s
Downtown watering holes that allow smoking in designated areas inside:
Finnigan’s Cove
Dave’s Taverna
Luigi’s
Finally!
hopefully restaurants being proactive on this will keep va from succumbing to the draconian anti-smoking laws that have swept not only our nation, but other parts of the globe as well. i’ve never understood the legal basis under which cities/states in our country can dictate that entrepreneurs cannot open a bar in which people are allowed to smoke (although i’ve never done my homework on this either…). i like going out and not smelling like an ashtray when i go home but the smoking bans of the past eight or so years really rub me the wrong way. that being said, big up to all the local places that ensure our freedom of choice.
Well, the legal (or economic basis) for many European smoking bans is government-run health care. The health hazards of smoking are less disputed than climate change, and it’s in the best interest of those governments to discourage it.
On a U.S. state level, I would assume there are similar concerns — especially for those states that have health care systems of their own. On a local level, I’m not sure what the reason for a smoking ban is, other than to be able to claim “we’re a healthy, smoke-free city.”
i’ve been waiting for a legitimate challenge to come out of new york. i think that the only reason we haven’t seen it go to the courts is probably because there are plenty of bars in nyc that flout the ban. probably cheaper to pay the fines for violations than the legal costs for an all out challenge. in terms of governments looking out for citizen’s health by telling business owners what they can and can’t allow, i don’t want it. in terms of actual health benefits realized, i’m skeptical. people who would have avoided bars during the smokey times probably frequent them much more than before the ban and while the increased alcohol consumption may not be as poorly perceived as second hand smoke i think it’s probably fair to assume that it has its price in medical costs. on the same note, i found this post talking about weight gain after the nyc ban.
http://nalert.blogspot.com/2008/03/post-smoking-ban-new-york-city-gains-10.html
i haven’t checked it out on snopes, so maybe someone with more time than me can find out if it’s accurate to say that nyc has gained 10 million pounds since the ban.
you’re point about governement sanctioned health care being a big motivator for these bans is interesting, but it highlights the way in which nationalized health care takes the onus off of personal responsibility and allows the government to enact poorly conceived laws out of concern for ‘our best interest.’
if in fact the smoking bans are the attempts of governements to improve the health of populations then it’s important to tie the bans to an overall decrease in smoking. otherwise, they really have no effect on public health. my sense is that the same number of people probably consume the same number of cigarettes, regardless of where they smoke them. which leaves the decrease in second hand smoke to account for all of these alleged health benefits and i just don’t buy it.
to me, what’s going to cost our nationalized health care system a lot more (when we inevitably implement it) than smokers, is the high number of ‘healthy’ (in quotations because of the large prescription drug budget that generally accompanies aging) citizens we have to support because they weren’t culled by the nefariousness of the tobacco companies.
health care needs to be affordable. i’m all about that. i think that in reality, whether or not you can smoke in a bar probably has very little bearing on this.
actually you are wrong, all the above establishments have now designated their dumbsters in their respective alleyways as official smoking areas. All you have to do is climb in a big green dumpster, and you will be in the company of a dozen or so raison faced degenerates sucking on thier beloved death sticks…so, get your facts straight!!!
i always wondered why oscar was so grouchy
bottom line…smoking is cool. this is a well known fact.
About D**n time. Now if only we’d pass a law that would allow people to shoot, on sight, those self-centered, trashy smokers who think that the earth is their ashtray and that they have a right to flick their butts out of their car windows instead of using their ashtray.
That’s interesting – you apparently find it offensive to spell out *damn* but perfectly acceptable to shoot people who litter.