A potential amendment to the city smoking ban will most likely not bring drastic change to the local bar scene, area bar owners say.
City Council will vote sometime in the next few weeks on an amendment to the ban which would expand the law to include sidewalk cafes and move the day it goes into effect to Jan. 1.
The ban is currently in effect, and will continue to be enforced unless the amendment is passed.
The amendment would also offer exemptions from the ban to institutions making less than 20 percent of their money from food sales, rather than the 10 percent currently stipulated.
Council's Public Health Committee approved the amendment by a 4-1 vote last week.
But management from Cavanaugh's, Blarney Stone, Copabanana, Mad4Mex and MarBar all say the change in the exemption requirement will probably end up not affecting their establishments. Smokey Joe's owner Paul Ryan was unavailable for comment.
The more lax guidelines would increase the number of bars city-wide exempt from the ban, though the exact number that would be affected is unknown.
Copabanana general manager Shane Zack said he hopes the amendment will not affect revenue, though he would like to see the exemption stay as it is.
"Hopefully, [the amendment] won't do anything to our business," Zack said. "But the original 10 percent made sense. Why not 25 percent? Why not 30 percent? To be honest with you, I'd like to make it custom for my restaurant, if that's what they're trying to do."
Blarney Stone bartender Ryan Kearney said that the ban has not affected the restaurant thus far, and that the proposed amendment would not likely have additional impact.
"We haven't really seen much of a difference at all," Kearney said. "We have the same clientele that comes in. We have the same regulars each day of the week. We've had the same thing for seven years now, so I don't see how it's going to change just from smoking."
Brian Abernathy, legislative aide for the amendment's sponsor, Councilman Frank DiCicco, said by proposing the amendment, DiCicco is trying to ensure that more neighborhood "shot-and-beer" bars of the city can allow smoking.
"We thought it looked like with the 10-percent provision, you would have maybe nine or 10 bars that would be able to get a waiver," Abernathy said. "The councilman has always stated that his biggest concern is the shot-and-beer place, and he thought the 20-percent provision would help with that concern."
Abernathy added that the 20-percent exemption was included in the original bill before being altered during negotiations last spring.
