Smoking bill lacks votes to pass

Philadelphia is only two City Council votes shy of a smoking ban, but supporters are unsure whether this support will ever come.

The third proposed smoking ban in the past two years made it through Council's Committee on Public Health and Human Services last week and could face a vote in today's Council meeting.

But the bill's sponsor, Councilwoman Marian Tasco, said yesterday that because she still lacks the votes, she is reluctant to bring the bill to the floor.

"I'm working on [getting support], but I'm not going to call it up unless we have the votes," Tasco said. "If we don't have the votes and it goes before Council, it's dead."

Councilwoman Joan Krajewski has said she will not vote for the bill in its current form, Krajewski's spokesman Chris Creelman said.

"She hasn't been in support of it the past two times, and this bill isn't any different," he said. "This bill doesn't address the issue of corner bars and tap rooms."

Krajewski, who says that her district in Northern Philadelphia has more so-called "corner bars" than any other, added that she wouldn't support a smoking ban without an exemption for these neighborhood venues.

Previous anti-smoking legislation sponsored by Councilman Michael Nutter attempted to address this issue by adding special exemptions, but the bill was abandoned before Krajewski and Nutter could reach a consensus.

Nutter said last year that he was only one vote shy of passing his own version of anti-smoking legislation.

Tasco said that she didn't want to complicate her bill with any exemptions, adding that such changes could cost her the Council support she had already gained.

Instead, she says that the key to passing the bill is for Mayor John Street to put pressure on Council members.

"I don't know what the mayor is doing," Tasco said. "He could be helpful if he wanted to."

Street, who eventually must sign the bill for it to become law, has publicly supported a smoking ban without being specific about the form it should take.

Speaking to a rally organized by various anti-smoking groups yesterday, Street said that he believes anti-smoking legislation would pass before the end of his term. He refused to say whether he would sign Tasco's bill in its current form.

Street spokesman Joe Grace said that the mayor has supported similar legislation in the past but that he never makes a decision on a bill until it reaches his desk.

Penn Political Science professor Henry Teune said that he expected some sort of ban to pass but that this type of legislation is especially difficult to move through in a city like Philadelphia.

"This is a working-class city with working-class neighborhoods -- lots of smokers, lots of bars," Teune said. "But the pressure is on to do it."

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