Smoking Ban may be decided July 23

The Minneapolis City Council may decide whether to ban smoking in bars and restaurants at its council meeting Friday, July 23. The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. and is in Room 317.

In our area, Councilmembers Paul Zerby and Gary Schiff support the ban (Schiff is the author), and Sandy Colvin-Roy opposes the ban. Mayor R.T. Rybak both supports and opposes the ban: he wants it to be effective, but he doesn’t want to hurt small businesses.

The ban would eliminate smoking in bars and restaurants with the probable exception of outdoor seating.