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Smoking in restaurants, airport may soon be banned in Atlanta

By Matt Johnson, WSB-TV
By Matt Johnson, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — We're one step closer to a complete smoking ban at restaurants and Atlanta’s airport – and it could affect everyone who lives in or visits the city.

City Council's Transportation Committee passed the ordinance Wednesday. One of the sponsors of the law said smoking creates a health issue, but opponents said there are business owners who will be hurt if the ordinance passes.

A statewide smoke-free law went into effect in 2005, but the new ordinance for the city would go a step further.

“They can smoke outside but no longer can they smoke in these restaurants, bars or the airport,” Councilman Andre Dickens said.

Dickens said the legislation is also aimed at making Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport entirely smoke-free.

“Thirty out of 34 of the world’s busiest airports are smoke free, and we were not,” Dickens said.

Businesses would be fined $100 for the first violation and $200 for a second.

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Dickens said he consulted with business owners in Savannah after that city passed a similar smoking ban.

“Once they stopped the smoking, their business actually boomed, so I think we're going to see some of that economic benefit,” he said.

But the chief executive officer of the Georgia Restaurant Association, Karen Bremer, said the roughly 30 Atlanta restaurants and bars that allow smoking will be harmed.

“I feel that they were being penalized,” Bremer said.

Bremer said customers should have the right to choose.

“There are people that make that choice to enter an establishment that allows smoking, so if you don’t like something, you don’t go into an establishment that allows smoking, plain and simple,” she said.

There is an exception in the ordinance for hookah lounges and cigar bars.

If passed by the council on Monday, it would take effect in January 2020.

Cox Media Group

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