Arguing that hospitality workers? lives are at stake, a group of restaurant owners, bartenders and waiters assembled at Timothy Dean Bistro in Fells Point on Wednesday to support a city council bill that would ban indoor smoking in restaurant and bars.
“I don?t see why I cannot be afforded a safe working environment” said Dana Koteen, a waiter at Roy?s restaurant in downtown Baltimore City. “Every other occupation works in a smoke-free environment by law. Only restaurant workers can be legally exposed to cigarette smoke.”
Ken Horseman, a lifelong bar owner who is opening a smoke-free nightclub in Federal Hill called Illusions, said he has witnessed the toll of secondhand smoke first-hand.
“I?ve seen too many people in the hospitality business die young,” he said. “That?s why my bar will be smoke-free.”
According to The Maryland State Medical Society, an advocacy group that represents Maryland physicians, 1,000 people who are exposed to secondhand smoke die each year in the state, including 200 in Baltimore City.
Council Member Robert Curran said waiters and bartenders are exposed so much secondhand smoke that they are smokers by default.
“An eight-hour shift is the equivalent of smoking more than half a pack of cigarettes,” he said. “We can?t always control the homicide rate, but we can control this.”
Curran, D-District 3, said he has enough votes to get his bill out of committee, but is unsure if he has enough votes for final approval.
“I?m one and one-half votes short,” Curran said.
Council Member Jack Young, whose vote Curran said he is seeking, has not yet made up his mind.
“Right now, I?m on the fence” said Young, D-District 12. “But I do believe it comes down to people?s right to choose,” he said.
As for Timothy Dean, the host of the news conference and restaurant owner, banning smoking has improved sales at his establishment.
“My business is up,” he said.
