Poll: Greenwood Evenly Divided on Smoking Ban
With a total of 242 votes cast in The Delta Dirt's first ever online poll, the results reveal a Greenwood whose public opinion is fairly evenly divided over the issue of the smoking ban ordinance.
The question read, "Are you in favor of Greenwood's new smoking ban ordinance?" There were a 125 "No" votes cast, 116 "Yes" votes cast, and 1 "Not sure." This equates to a divide of roughly 52% opposed to 48% in favor of the smoking ordinance.
Since this was a non-scientific poll, an unknown margin of error more than covers the 4% gap. The margin of error is contributed to various email campaigns and "get out the vote" efforts by local citizens and support groups.
The fact remains that the smoking ban is still a topic of divided interest around town. And with just 19 days to go until the ban settles in on the sleepy little town of Greenwood, there is much to overcome if we are going to pull through this.
Last night I spoke with Michael Mosley, General Manager and Director of Euphoria at Webster's Food and Drink. He is worried that the ban will hurt his and other area businesses. And with good reason.
I tend to believe that for every smoking customer that quits coming to his establishment because of the ban, he will pick up another that would normally pass it up for the same reason. But he had a good rebuttal to my point. It was more of a challenge, really.
Mosley said that if the proponents of the ban don't come out and patronize area restaurants more often than they do now, restaurant businesses will suffer across town. This could lead to the closing of one or more local restaurants or bars.
He acknowledged that the ban is inevitable, but stated that Greenwood must come together and support the local restaurant market once the ban goes into effect. Basically, Mosley said that if you want what's best for Greenwood, get past your biases and support the Greenwood economy.
Smoking outside will take some adjustment for some. But after six months or so, there will be a new topic for debate and the only recollection of the smoking ban will be when someone leans over to another at the bar and recalls, "I remember when we could smoke in here. Yep, those were the good old days."
Let us know how the smoking ban will affect you by voting in our online poll on the right. The poll will close at midnight on Friday, August 3rd.
The question read, "Are you in favor of Greenwood's new smoking ban ordinance?" There were a 125 "No" votes cast, 116 "Yes" votes cast, and 1 "Not sure." This equates to a divide of roughly 52% opposed to 48% in favor of the smoking ordinance.
Since this was a non-scientific poll, an unknown margin of error more than covers the 4% gap. The margin of error is contributed to various email campaigns and "get out the vote" efforts by local citizens and support groups.
The fact remains that the smoking ban is still a topic of divided interest around town. And with just 19 days to go until the ban settles in on the sleepy little town of Greenwood, there is much to overcome if we are going to pull through this.
Last night I spoke with Michael Mosley, General Manager and Director of Euphoria at Webster's Food and Drink. He is worried that the ban will hurt his and other area businesses. And with good reason.
I tend to believe that for every smoking customer that quits coming to his establishment because of the ban, he will pick up another that would normally pass it up for the same reason. But he had a good rebuttal to my point. It was more of a challenge, really.
Mosley said that if the proponents of the ban don't come out and patronize area restaurants more often than they do now, restaurant businesses will suffer across town. This could lead to the closing of one or more local restaurants or bars.
He acknowledged that the ban is inevitable, but stated that Greenwood must come together and support the local restaurant market once the ban goes into effect. Basically, Mosley said that if you want what's best for Greenwood, get past your biases and support the Greenwood economy.
Smoking outside will take some adjustment for some. But after six months or so, there will be a new topic for debate and the only recollection of the smoking ban will be when someone leans over to another at the bar and recalls, "I remember when we could smoke in here. Yep, those were the good old days."
Let us know how the smoking ban will affect you by voting in our online poll on the right. The poll will close at midnight on Friday, August 3rd.
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