With 23,000 petition signatures in hand, the Citizens for Fair Non-Smoking Laws approached the Tempe City Council on Monday in hopes of bringing smoking back into local bars.
Rich Banks, petition organizer and creator of the Fair Non-Smoking Laws group -- along with 25 other opponents to the smoking ban -- met the city clerk on the steps of City Hall to hand over the signatures.
The drive for signatures was an effort to change the Tempe smoking ban that was initiated by popular vote on May 21. The ban has since prevented smoking in all public places, namely bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
Banks said his organization doesn't want to repeal the ban all together, but does want to amend it so that bars, specifically, can regain their smoking rights.
The City requires 11,358 signatures to place a proposal such as this on an election ballot.
If the county recorders office can verify that the minimum amount of signatures on the petition are legitimate Tempe residents of voting age, then the amendment will be placed on a March 9, 2004 ballot.
Leland Fairbanks, president of Arizonans Concerned About Smoking and the physician who organized Tempe's referendum, has made allegations that the signatures were improperly collected.
"I saw unattended signatures sitting at a bar, signed by people who don't even live in Tempe," Fairbanks said.
The legitimacy of the signatures will soon be determined, though.
Banks, who is associated with Tempe bar Casey Moore's Oyster House as a landlord, said he wants to have an equal opportunity to attract business as Mesa and Gilbert, both of which have modified smoking bans.
Mesa's ordinance allows smoking in bars and special rooms in restaurants, whereas Tempe has banned smoking in bars, restaurants and other work places entirely.
"We want to create a level playing field," said Banks about the two cities with lesser laws.
Banks said he would like to see the decisions of whether smoking is allowed in a bar left in the owner's hands.
There were only two opponents of the initiative in attendance as the petitions were turned in.
Suzette Janoff, a flight attendant for 13 years during the time when smoking was allowed in airplane cabins, said she is now suffering from a number of ailments related to long-term secondhand smoke exposure, including asthma.
"Is the life and health of bartenders and cocktail waitresses more important than those who work in restaurants?" she said. "We can't count on the owners to be responsible, so we have to bring the government in to regulate."
Reach the reporter at christina.viloria@asu.edu. Megan Rudebeck contributed to this story.
