http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Jan-20-Sat-2007/news/12083825.html


Reality of smoking ban sets in

Kitchens closing, workers losing jobs


Jill Israel thought the "going out of business" signs were a joke.

But shortly after she reported for duty as a waitress at the New York Deli News in Henderson on Jan. 12, her boss told her the closure notices were real. The deli's landlord, a bar and grill, was ousting the restaurant to comply with Nevada's new law banning smoking inside taverns that serve food.

Israel lost her job when the deli closed Monday.

"It's unfortunate (voters) really didn't read the law (Question 5) properly," Israel said. "They didn't read the fine print or see that people would actually lose their jobs. It's not cool. It took away my livelihood. We had a great business."

Business owners and restaurant employees across the Las Vegas Valley say the week-old smoking ban is already exacting a toll on their operations, with shuttered kitchens and a dwindling customer base resulting from the new policy.

The statewide law, which went into effect in Clark County after a Jan. 12 District Court order, forbids smoking in restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and taverns that serve food. Casino floors, strip clubs and standalone bars are exempt from the ban -- a privilege that proprietors and even their customers say is making it difficult for smaller businesses to survive.

"It's like Prohibition," said Pam Faught, a nonsmoker who frequents Jackson's Bar & Grill on West Flamingo Avenue. "I would like to see them leave these businesses (taverns) alone. They invest so much in their kitchens and their staffs. I would hate to see all these people thrown out of work."

Darren Denenberg, a professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a regular customer of the New York Deli News, said the restaurant's fate "has affected (his) whole thought process on the issue."

Denenberg supported Question 5 when anti-smoking advocates had the law placed on the ballot in November, but he now laments what he calls the "unintended consequences" of the referendum.

The owners of Doc Holliday's, the bar that the deli shared space with, decided that preserving indoor smoking would be more lucrative than continuing to have food service on the premises.

Though the deli was within the bar, it was separated from Doc Holliday's by a wall with open entries on either side, and it shared ventilation and restrooms with the tavern. Unlike its co-tenant, the New York Deli News was a nonsmoking eatery before Question 5 passed.

"It never really crossed my mind that a nonsmoking establishment would be put out of business because of a nonsmoking law," Denenberg said. "I still have trouble understanding it. It's a bizarre outcome of this law. This wonderful restaurant has to close, and the dark, smoky bar can stay open."

Denenberg said he still supports the "spirit" of the smoking ban.

"But if it risks putting someone out of business unintentionally, then more care needs to be taken in drafting these types of laws," he said. "There should be some clause or amendment so that a place like the New York Deli News could explain their situation. The lesson is that even if a law sounds well-intended, you really need to look through it and make sure it's going to actually do what it says it's going to do."

The owners of the New York Deli News didn't return a phone call seeking comment. The restaurant's answering machine had a message stating the deli had closed as a result of Question 5.

Inside Jackson's, Faught sat with her husband, Peter Faught, on Friday afternoon. As they played video poker, they noted that the bar had about one-third fewer customers than it would typically have the day before a weekend.

Jackson's is licensed as a supper club, which means the establishment must by law keep its kitchen open. So owner Brian Slipock ditched his restaurant's ashtrays and posted no-smoking signs Monday. Smokers who indulge inside Jackson's are politely told they're breaking the law and are directed outside to finish their cigarettes.

Slipock said it's too early to determine the revenue hit Jackson's has taken from the ban, but he added that he "can tell the amount of money in our machines is down."

Slipock estimated that 25 percent fewer patrons were visiting the supper club since it began sending smokers outside to light up. He suspects the missing customers are warming the seats at two neighboring bars, which shut down their kitchens and thus retained the right to harbor smokers indoors. He said he's plotting the restaurant's future based on the assumption that the smaller client base is permanent.

"We've had a few people who got up from their machines and went outside to smoke, but when the weather is as cold as it was the last few nights, how many people are going to keep doing that?" Slipock asked.

Food is a loss leader at Jackson's, so the restaurant makes all its money from its 15 video-poker machines, Slipock said. A significant hit to the supper club's gaming revenue could imperil the jobs of some of the eatery's 20 employees.

"We'll start looking at those hard decisions in the next three or four weeks," Slipock said. "We're going to do everything we can to avoid going that (layoff) route. We're just trying our best to work with the ban. Unfortunately, the bell has already been rung, and we're going to do what we have to do to survive."

Customers at Jackson's gave the thumbs-down to the ban.

The Faughts, who aren't smokers, saw little sense in the new law.

"I wish no one smoked, but the smoking ban is ridiculous," Pam Faught said. "This is an adult place. People make the choice to walk in here. They're making businesses and workers lose their income with this law, but if they want to end smoking, they should start at the source, with tobacco companies."

Faught, who eats out with her husband three to five times a week, said the ban will affect even nonsmokers.

"Who's going to pay for enforcement? Taxpayers will end up paying for it, whether we smoke or not," she said. "And the people who are put out of work will fall back on social services, and that means taxes."

Smoker Steve Hill, a construction worker visiting Las Vegas from Montana, was playing video poker at Jackson's on Friday afternoon.

Hill said he thinks it "stinks" that people who want to ban smoking "are whining and sniveling about what other people do."

Yet he also said it's not a bother to take his cigarette breaks outside the restaurant. The smoking ban won't change his habits, he added.

Keeping Jackson's open could require intensive marketing efforts. Slipock said he'll have to spend as much as $15,000 on gaming promotions and other enticements to lure back and retain customers.

A sign outside My Cousin Vinny Sports Bar on East Sahara Avenue makes a cheeky plea for customers: "Smokers welcome. All you can eat -- before you get here."

Owner and manager Bob Ferranti laid off one employee earning about $300 a week when he shuttered his kitchen because of the ban. He said it's too soon to determine whether he's losing money or patrons to the law.

Ferranti is having a hard time pinpointing what his rights and responsibilities are under the ban.

"It's very frustrating. Everybody's up in the air about the whole thing," Ferranti said. "You might think they would have some kind of system set up when all this happened, but nobody's told us anything. Our customers ask us, 'Can we order a pizza in from down the street?' We don't know. All we can do is let them do what they want until someone tells us what we can do."

Stephanie Bethel, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District, said the agency is developing educational materials informing the public and business owners of the law's specific provisions. She said the district will probably mail out the literature within a month. Until then, the agency will refrain from hitting the streets in search of violators, who could get $100 tickets for each infraction.

But Bethel said anecdotal evidence shows most proprietors are obeying the new law.

"We're happy to see that," she said. "We think they'll be compliant, as businesses have been in other locales that have put smoking bans into place."

As for Israel, she's on the hunt for a new job. She's willing to wait tables again, but she's also looking for positions in sales and marketing, the field she worked in before she entered the restaurant sector.

"It's time to move on, and that's what I'm doing," Israel said. "Life is good. I'm not depressed. I did my grieving.

"But if anyone is looking for a great sales lady, let me know."

I guess this is the problem with public referendums. The sponsors are sitting in their barcoloungers in comfort dreaming of the day when they will get out of it and actually visit a restaurant. They don't have a care in the world.

The people who financed it are waiting for their checks to arrive in the mail from their backers. Once, received, they will off to another state to repeat their scam.