For so many reasons I am against the smoking ban in Dallas. I think for Dallas, it was a bad decision at this time without the a decision by the surrounding communities to follow suit or even the state to pass a smoking ban at this time.
It is a waste of the taxpayer money and police enforcement to try and uphold this kind of law without other cities in tow. They are most likely going to lose some current tax revenue with this decision. First, light smokers may decide it's time to quit (less cigarette taxes) and heavy smokers will migrate to a bar they can smoke in on the outskirts (less alcohol revenue). The City of Dallas should have bigger fish to fry then the smoking issue at this time...I believe not that many months ago that they laid off more than a few teachers because they were short on funds.
Second, this decision is going to hurt the local Dallas bar business in some ways until the other cities follow suit. Take Clicks Marsh for example, they are right on the edge of the Dallas city line. As a smoking pool player, if I had the same drive between Clicks and Billiard Den in Richardson, I am going to choose the Den. Even if I lived a little further, I would still drive to the Den over Clicks. Yes, there may be some non-smokers that drive a little further to play at Clicks but I hate to say it, statistically, smokers also tend to be heavier drinkers.
Third, they are taking a bar owners decision to set the rules for their business. As long as smoking is legal and they continue to take our money for taxes on cigarettes, business owners should have the right to decide whether to allow that behavior in their establishment. Obviously bar owners to this point do not think that a non-smoking bar/pool hall would be a profitable establishment or we would see more non-smoking rooms. I was reading a statistic on the vote day for Dallas that only 20% of the population smokes, but the general age for bar patrons in 21-35 and smoking ratio is closer to 70%. There are exceptions for pool rooms as you tend to see a larger age diversity, but keep in mind, most pool rooms stay in business from their bar sales, not their table time.
I know that eventually that you will not be able to smoke anywhere but inside your house (unless you have children present, then you will go to jail), but until it is universal, I think the Dallas City Council made a very ignorant decision last week.
