Below is a letter sent to me by Trustee Dawn Anderson concerning the Smoking Ban. It partially relates to my recent post
"Steamrolled by Lobbyists".
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Hi Steve - first of all I'd like to thank you for your attendance at so many meetings on this issue and for what I think has been a very rational assessment of it. I have said it before (and been contradicted) but my assessment has also been that the majority of people speaking publicly in favor of this ban have not been residents, but representatives of outside advocacy groups - with the exception of some of our resident doctors and a few others who are rightly concerned about it as a health issue. One of my fellow board members brought this incongruity to my attention shortly after I came on board and asked for some history of the previous discussions and public listening sessions. They were represented in one way or another at every committee meeting and board meeting at which this was discussed. They sent emails fairly regularly. By contrast, the Shorewood NOW article by Brendan points out that restaurant and tavern owners "lobbied heavily" against the ordinance, which is patently not true in my case. Yes, 2 owners were present the night of the vote, they spoke at the public hearing, and I believe one owner came to one committee meeting when we were discussing the ordinance. I personally did not receive one letter,email, or phone call from any of them.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I'd like to say that for 10 years I have been a volunteer for, and now work for, a health advocacy organization. I've been to DC and Madison a number of times advocating for my cause. I appreciate the passion that advocates demonstrate and recognize the importance of their role in policy making - but I have to say I was very surprised at some of communications I received as a trustee. Smoking and exposure to second hand smoke has become a highly charged issue and
some - not all - of these "advocates" were definitely rude or condescending while we were trying to make this important decision about
our village (
I would like to specifically exclude Sue Marten who was extremely calm and helpful in her participation) As you described it, "finger wagging" and eye rolling is not usually an effective way to win friends and influence people.
We were presented with a survey conducted by Aurora Health Care "proving" that the majority of Shorewood residents would approve a smoking ban. Well - of course! Who's going to say no except for the few business owners who are going to feel the pain of this ban the most - unless of course the state beats us to the enactment date and levels the playing field for them. It's like saying "do you support world peace?" But my casual conversations with friends and neighbors in the village showed me that most of them had no clue that the majority of restaurants and businesses in the village were already voluntarily non smoking establishments. Is this really a huge public health issue --- IN SHOREWOOD? That was my key objection to the ordinance; weighing the pretty small impact on the overall public health of Shorewood residents (the vast majority of whom are already non smokers who generally don't hang out in bars), with the very real impact it will have on a few, but important, businesses in our community who are quite obviously serving a constituency of adults participating in a legal activity. In committee before the vote I asked the lobbyists if there was any comparison they could give us of another municipality of our size - and in our "island" situation - in Wisconsin , enacting a ban. The answer of course was no - and yet we were inundated with reports of "no economic impact" from huge metropolitan areas like Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York etc etc in order to prove that our businesses wouldn't suffer. My colleague Jeff said it best - are we willing to roll the dice on these business owners' livelihoods? I wasn't. I share your concern about the impact this will have on our business district and agree, things really could get interesting if the state doesn't put a 100% ban in place by July 1 2009.
Dawn Anderson
Shorewood Village Trustee
March 2, 2007
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