Proposed legislation to ban smoking in the outdoor patios of bars and taverns could likely see changes when it returns next month to the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee.
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who introduced the legislation, continued the proposal on Monday to the committee’s June 8 meeting to work on amendments and a timeline with some of her colleagues and Mayor Daniel Lurie.
“I welcome the help from both the Mayor and my colleagues who are seeking to have a path that is not as contentious,” Melgar said.
Despite the continuance, dozens spoke at the meeting in favor of and against the proposed legislation. The idea to ban smoking in patios in bars has upset some bar owners and employees, who spoke about how the ban would hurt the few bars that allow smoking in their patios. While public health advocates applauded the proposal, citing the harms of secondhand smoke.
Dan Surrat, the co-owner of Finnegan’s Wake in the Cole Valley neighborhood, said the bar had not received one complaint about patrons smoking in the back patio.
“If this was an issue, you know, we would make adjustments, and I would think that this matter would be more relevant to our current times, but it’s not,” Suratt said.
Sophie Lewis, manager at the El Rio near the Mission neighborhood, said one of the reasons why people come to El Rio is that patrons can smoke on the outdoor patio.
“It would affect our income significantly to have smoking removed, especially quite so suddenly,” Lewis said.
Lewis was also worried about employees enforcing the smoking ban.
“Putting the burden of enforcement on employees who are already struggling to survive right now in San Francisco puts one more barrier in the way of people having a successful life in San Francisco,” Lewis added.
Several public health advocates who spoke in favor of the proposed legislation said the ban would not only protect patrons from secondhand smoke but also employees who may not want to be exposed.
Mary Kemp, representing the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, in favor of the proposed legislation, said that this was a worker protection issue.
“Bar employees cannot opt out,” Kemp said. “Customers decide whether to sit on the patio. Workers don’t get that choice.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cited that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and that even brief exposure can cause serious health issues.
Speaking on behalf of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, which supports the smoking ban, Dr. John Maa, a general surgeon at the city’s Chinese Hospital, said he supported the continuation of the proposed legislation.
“I believe further education and further conversation will be really helpful to identify ways to help the smokers who are visiting these bars to help them quit,” Maa said.
Melgar said she understood that the smoking ban would affect small businesses and did not want to harm them, but added that some residents live in rent-controlled units, with some living above the bars with outdoor patio smoking who do not have a choice to move.
“For the business owners who are worried about your businesses, I want to make sure that we support you, but also that we support the public health and the folks who have not given their consent to breathing smoke when they can’t get away from it,” Melgar said. “So, I think both things may be possible.”
