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Smoke-Free Oak Park is good for business
A smoke-free Oak Park will encourage residents of Oak Park and surrounding communities who overwhelmingly prefer smoke-free environments to live, work and dine in Oak Park . Just look at the facts:
• Eighty-seven percent of Oak Park residents don't smoke. (Independent Poll by Fako & Associates, Inc., November 2004, for the American Heart Association.)
• A survey taken of residents of Oak Park , Forest Park , River Forest , Berwyn , Cicero and Elmwood Park find that the community is very supportive of going smoke-free!
• 80% of frequent diners and 71% of infrequent diners prefer the non-smoking sections." (AHA Smoke-Free Analysis, p. 9)
• 66% of Oak Park residents support an ordinance in Oak Park which would prohibit smoking in all indoor workplaces, restaurants and other public places.
• More than 80% of Oak Park residents and nearly ¾ of the people in the surrounding communities feel limits should be placed on where people are allowed to smoke or feel a complete ban on smoking in public places should be enacted.
• An overwhelming majority (92%) feel that secondhand smoke is a very (61%) or somewhat (31%) serious health hazard.
• 95% of non-smokers consider it [secondhand smoke] a serious health hazard (67% say VERY serious) while more than ¾ (78%) of smokers consider secondhand smoke a serious health hazard (31% say very serious.)
• Nearly 2/3 (61%) feel that non-smoking sections do not provide enough protection from second-hand smoke
Oak Park Residents will go elsewhere for Smoke-Free Dining
• Nearly 1/5 (19%) of OP residents leave the community to seek smoke-free dining.
NOTE: The survey was conducted in November by Fako & Associates and was commissioned by the American Heart Association. A random sample of 601 respondents who are age 18 and older were interviewed. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.00% at the 95% level of confidence. This means that if the survey were repicated the results would be consistent for 95 out of 100 cases.
Business, including dining, is not hurt by going smoke-free
Dozens of studies have been done to assess the effect that smoke-free laws have on restaurant and bar business in communities that have gone smoke-free. With the exception of those studies that received funding from the tobacco industry, these studies have substantiated that smoke-free ordinances have a positive, or at worst, no effect on hospitality and other business.
New York City's comprehensive smoke-free ordinance took effect on March 30, 2003, followed by a statewide smoke-free law that took effect in July 2003. Contrary to the alarms raised by the hospitality and tobacco industries, hospitality industry sales and employment have not decreased in the wake of smoke-free regulations passed in New York State. Most recently, on March 29, 2004, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced the findings of a report titled "The State of Smoke-Free New York City," a one-year review of the economic and health impact of the law . This report found that business tax receipts in bars and restaurants had increased since enactment of the smoke-free law, that employment had also increased, and that compliance was high.
In addition, there have been health benefits. A survey released in May 2004 found that adult smoking prevalence in New York City had decreased 11 percent from 2002 to 2003.
In fact, a study, published in Tobacco Control in 2000 , found an increase in business in bars in California as a result of implementation of the smoke-free bar portion of the California state smokefree workplace law.
[Glantz S. Effect of smokefree bar law on bar revenues in California . Tobacco Control 2000;9(1):111-2]
For additional research on the economic impact of smoke-free law, click here for bibliography of peer-reviewed research or visit http://www.no-smoke.org/getthefacts.php?dp=d19 .
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