Get it together

When it comes to the health of its citizens, Philadelphia is falling behind. For more than five years now, members of the city council -- especially Michael Nutter -- have pushed to ban smoking in bars and restaurants within the city limits.

Each time, the bills have failed.

For Philadelphia's sake, this issue needs to finally be resolved. Councilwoman Marian Tasco has brought a new proposal before the council that would ban smoking in all workplaces, except a few select cigar bars and tobacco vendors.

Many other states and cities around the country have placed the health of their citizens above smokers' rights. California has banned smoking for years, New York City recently did the same and the entire state of New Jersey is now smoke-free.

The result? People are still flocking to the bars in Greenwich Village, and Philadelphia isn't being flooded by an exodus of smokers from the Garden State.

Our city must follow suit.

When bar and restaurant patrons are allowed to smoke, they are affecting more than just their own health. They affect the health of every other customer and employee -- and there is little they can do to stop it.

The smell is also nearly inescapable. At the end of the long night of bar-hopping, the scent of cigarettes is unmistakable.

Even worse, employees have absolutely no choice in the matter. Unlike bar patrons, they can't leave when the smoke becomes unbearable. They must remain in the workplace, inhaling whatever fumes their customers exhale.

And the solution cannot rest on the shoulders of bar and restaurant owners, who stand to lose large amounts of business from smokers if they decide to go smoke-free.

The only solution is forcing workplaces to ban smoking completely, as Tasco has proposed. This way, smokers would be forced to take their smoking outside, where it doesn't affect the health of everyone else.

A smoking ban would also cut down on the number of casual smokers who only smoke while drinking.

With New Jersey's smoking ban in effect, the fear that bar and restaurant patrons would flee across the Delaware can be dismissed. There is no excuse left to not enact this bill.

Local business leaders and residents must make their voices heard and let Philadelphia's leaders know there is widespread support to keep tobacco out of workplaces.

A call from University President Amy Gutmann's office probably wouldn't hurt either.

The City Council and Mayor John Street must resolve their petty differences and -- for the health of Philadelphians -- finally approve the most recent attempt to ban smoking.

For the sake of Philadelphia, get it together.

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