One of the most pleasant diversions the Twin Cities offer in the summer is a night out on the back patio at Keegans in the summer, playing trivia and torching up the odd cigar.
Y’see, while Minneapolis and then Minnesota banned smoking in bars, establishments that had outdoor space were able to have smoking patios – sort of like those miserable outside-the-office smoking areas, only with tables and chairsand waitresses and booze.
And when Minneapolis sees opportunities for the people to have fun that is not strictly regulated, it gets jealous.
According to Terry Keegan, the Met Council is driving the various city agencies to try to consider cigar patios as expansions to the bar, meaning they’d get charged full square-footage fees.
It’s an absurd interpretation, of course; the cigar patios are where people inside the bar go to grab a cigar and sit. This is a baldfaced attempt to squeeze money out of bar owners, themselves caught in a double-whammy of tough economic times and times that were already straitened by Minnesota’s smoking ban, as well as continue the DFL’s attempt to regulate behavior.
So what is it going to take to get people to storm the barricades (rhetorically speaking, at least)?
“people inside the bar go to grab a cigar and sit.”
as much as I like the patio, when you can grab a cigar, sit, AND order drinks from the lovely Nicole, then maybe they’ve got a point.
Why stick with rhetoric? I’m about ready to pull some barricades down.
They do serve outside but here’s the problem. The city and county already cut their business by banning smoking inside. Allowing it would be a way to give bars a break that have the capability of doing this, rather than getting them coming and going (lower receipts, higher taxes). Also, I would like to know if the “square footage” assessment would be pro-rated for the fact that it’s only available for a few months and not in inclement weather. My guess is not, that it’s a permanent fee increase. That would make it a disincentive for any bar owner to do it which is what the anti-smoking people want in the first place.
I’ve told Terry more than once that I simply can’t understand why *anyone* continues to bother to try and run a business in Minneapolis.
And it’s not just the owners that get the hammer. How many parking tickets do you think get written .5 seconds after a meter expires? The occasional trip to Keegan’s not withstanding, I gave up patronizing Minneapolis a long time ago.
“it’s only available for a few months”
It clearly shouldn’t count the same as inside square footage.
“Congress shall pass no ex-post-facto law…” Seems to me there’s a federal lawsuit in here waiting to happen. If the lege made it legal to smoke on patios, and you built a patio, they shouldn’t be allowed to come along after the fact and penalize you for it. For that matter, I think the “takings” clause might be reasonably invoked here, since the smoking ban has devalued your property (and you can prove it) without proper compensation.
“Congress shall pass no ex-post-facto law…”
There’s a key word in that clause that you’re overlooking.
Stick with takings (though, that’s probably a losing argument too)
Margaret said:
“anti-smoking people”
You can call the fascists. I know some of them. The ones I know are smart, well intentioned, and they have little regard for individual freedom. They want to control you for your own good, and they use the power of government to do it. Fascists.
“Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
I didn’t know Keegans offered “cigar space”. As an avid cigar smoker, I basically gave up on Minneapolis after the ban. Used to love going to Brits or The Local and having a fine cigar. Huh, “you learn more here by accident than anywhere else by design” (oh wait, that’s somebody else.)
Any particular favorite cigars, Mitch?
There’s a key word in that clause that you’re overlooking.
For the benefit of us non-lawyer goyim, what’s that?
“Congress”.
I hate to be the one buzz kill in the bunch, but while I love trivia, I really really hate cigar smoke. Not so much a preference only, but a severe allergic reaction.
I suppose it helps keep away the mosquitoes?
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