Smoking Barred in Fresno Restaurants

Citing recent studies on the health risks of secondhand smoke, the Fresno City Council has voted 4 to 3 to ban smoking in most restaurants.

The vote Tuesday strengthened a 1987 ordinance that barred smoking in most public buildings and required restaurants to set aside 50% of their dining area for nonsmokers. The new measure allows some exceptions. Smokers will continue to find refuge in bars, bowling alleys and billiard rooms.

Ron Adair, owner of Klein’s Truck Stop, a fixture along California 99, predicted that the smoking ban will close his business, saying that 95% of truckers smoke. Other restaurant owners voiced similar concerns.

But those in favor of the new measure cited a survey of Fresno restaurants that are already smoke-free which showed a 34% increase in business in the last year.

A taxpayers association opposing the smoking ban said it would begin raising money for a signature drive to place a countermeasure on the June, 1994, ballot.