Mid-Michigan Dining

So the anti-smoking ban lobby takes a new tactic…at least new to me.  They’re claiming jobs will be lost near Indian casinos.  Again, I would say Prove it!  There are bars in border towns of smoke free states all over the country that butt up to a state that have yet to ban smoking.  How is that different from tribal land?  The website focuses on alcohol sales, but what it fails to take in to consideration, is overall profit.  They fail to mention if profits rise or fall after a ban for a business…they only focus on alcohol.  From a  Michigan License Beverage Association press release…

Anti-Smoking Ban Website Launched to Help Save Michigan Jobs

BanMiSmokingBan.com reveals untold story of smoking bans

LANSING, Mich. — A new website – www.BanMiSmokingBan.com – was launched today to highlight the unpublicized and damaging economic effect a smoking ban would have on Michigan businesses.

The website, launched by the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA), includes current research on the economic effects of smoking bans, recent news coverage and economic forecasts on the effect a proposed smoking ban could have on Michigan businesses and their workers.

“This website is an important way to deliver the message that 750 businesses and 7,500 workers will be kicked to the curb if lawmakers enact a smoking ban in Michigan,” said Lance Binoniemi, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association. “Some proponents of a smoking ban have worked hard to drown out the voices that will actually be affected by this legislation. That needs to change – and now.”

Bar and restaurant workers across Michigan continue to be outraged by the ongoing debate over whether Michigan should adopt a statewide smoking ban at a time when the state leads the nation with a 12 percent unemployment rate.

“Jobs are tough enough to come by in Michigan and anything that is going to cost me my customers and maybe my job should be an easy no vote for Lawmakers,” said Jamie Beachum, bartender at Dublin Square Irish Pub in East Lansing.

The hospitality industry is one of Michigan’s largest employers, providing hundreds of thousands of food-service careers and millions of dollars in payroll and business taxes to the state. Currently, more than 5,500 businesses in Michigan’s hospitality industry have already made the decision to go smoke-free – without any state mandates.

“Ask anyone in Michigan what our state needs and they will say more jobs,” said Binoniemi. “That’s why Michigan bar and restaurant owners and employees can’t understand why lawmakers would even think of passing a law that is proven to cost jobs in our industry. It just doesn’t make sense.”