Officials come up with alternatives to smoking ban

A couple of City Councilmembers have come up with 11th-hour alternatives to the city's proposed smoking ban, which council is supposed to take up tomorrow. The proposal would ban smoking at all workplaces in Houston, including restaurants and bars; exceptions would be patio areas and businesses designated as tobacconists or cigar bars.

Councilwoman Toni Lawrence has one alternative: She's begun circulating a petition that would exempt standalone bars and clubs from the citywide ban.

"My thoughts are to draft an amendment which would exempt ... bars from the proposed ordinance," Lawrence wrote in the petition. "I am concerned we are putting too many regulations on certain establishments, to the point of running them out of business."

She said eight councilmembers — a majority of council — have agreed to support her proposal. But Councilman Jarvis Johnson has come up with his own proposal, which would allow bar owners to allow smoking if they paid a yearly permit fee and agreed to more stringent health requirements.

"I want Houston to go smoke-free," said Johnson, "but if an establishment wants to be a smoking establishment, that is their right."

The alternatives aren't sitting too well with Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, who has long supported a full ban, and saffron-maned Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who said she's disappointed with Lawrence's petition and the proposed ban overall. "The mayor had a chance to take a definitive step [with a total ban], and instead he chose to take another baby step," Sekula-Gibbs said.

According to KTRH, council will likely delay the measure at its meeting tomorrow.