Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) Fourteen years after a ban on smoking went into affect inside its restaurants, the city of Rockville tonight will be giving a final vote to banning it outside restaurants.
The ban would affect any business that serves food and has an outdoor dining area, Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton said.
“Secondhand smoke is a problem no matter where it’s encountered,” Newton told WMAL. “I think it also goes to quality of life in terms of dining. People who don’t smoke don’t want to eat around smoke.”
Newton said the overwhelming response has been positive around the bill, and said concerns about driving business away has been overblown.
“I personally feel that the ban is going to have the opposite effect,” she said. “Those that had stayed away will now come.”
Montgomery County passed an indoor smoking ban in restaurants in 2003. The city followed that with a smoking ban on all outdoor, city-owned property in 2015.
Still, business owners like Marvin Motaghi of Sam’s Hookah Lounge and Cafe pointed to shuttered businesses along Rockville Pike.
“If you notice, those small stores are mom-and-pop shops,” Motaghi told WMAL.
He maintained the city is trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist, saying Montgomery County likely has one of the lowest smoking rates in the nation.
“If they keep going this route with these regulations, they’re basically shutting down mom-and-pop shops,” he said.
Newton said she understands concern about “the nanny state,” but said the law is about completing a process.
“(We’re) ensuring that all of our citizens have access to fresh air, clean air, and are not putting themselves in danger.”
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