Major confusion over Houston's new smoking ban

(7/12/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- The city of Houston's new smoking ban is set to go into effect in just a few weeks, but we've learned some major confusion means not all places will actually be smoke-free.

At his family-run bar in downtown Houston, Mike Shapiro relies on a strong base of cigar smoking customers. So ever since the city passed the no-smoking ordinance, he's been trying to apply for the cigar bar exemption.

"I tried going down there to find out when I can apply, and all you get is a run-around," he said "They're not ready. Well, we're in the middle of July and they're still not ready."

Even though the ordinance passed last fall, the health department still hasn't come up with a permitting process.

"Is this a little late?" we asked Kathy Barton with the Houston Health Department.

"I'm a little disappointed this didn't happen quicker, but it is a small staff over there that works on such an operation," she said.

Barton says staffers are working on a preliminary list of eight possible cigar bars they found from an article on the Internet, including Bossa, Downing Street and Crofts. But we found the list not very reliable. One of these so called cigar bars even isn't in operation. Paesanos shut down more than a year ago. It's now called Shadow Bar.

"They need to get busy on that," said Houston Councilmember Carol Alvarado. "I had hoped they would have had that worked out."

Alvarado says she thought only five bars were going to be exempted. But since no standard has actually been set, Shapiro hopes it's not too late for his bar.

"There shouldn't be a list," he said "Anyone who wants it should be allowed to apply for it."

So just how many places in Houston would will smokers still be able to light up and have a drink? That's uncertain. The city says the health department will actually post some of the applications by next week. Enforcement starts September 1.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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