Pinellas and Hillsborough lead in the number of complainers reporting illegal smoking indoors.
By MARCUS FRANKLIN
Published April 5, 2004
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
Smoking has been allowed at Sabrina's despite the state ban because the Tampa bar was mistakenly issued an exemption. The bar has been called in as a violator and could lose its exemption.
TAMPA - A few months after the state smoking ban went into effect last year, Susan Cain picked up the phone to complain about smoke wafting out of Sabrina's, a Tampa bar.
The entrance to Sabrina's is off the lobby of the Best Western on Adamo Drive, which Cain manages. The hotel and bar share an air-conditioning system as well as hallways. Worse, Sabrina's customers use the lobby's restrooms, often leaving smoke in their wake, Cain said.
"Every time somebody opens the door to the bar, the smoke just comes roaring out," said Cain, 35. "My lobby and banquet rooms fill up with smoke. It's all over the building. I'm unable to provide my employees with a smoke-free workplace because smoking is being permitted in Sabrina's."
State officials discovered they had erroneously given Sabrina's an exemption to the indoor workplace smoking ban, but only after Cain complained.
Cain isn't the only one complaining about smoking in the bay area. Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are leading the state in the number of complaints filed for smoking ban violations. Of the more than 1,500 complaints that have poured in since the ban started July 1, 169 came from Pinellas and 141 from Hillsborough as of last month, said Meg Shannon, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
When the smoking ban went into effect, some wondered how, or whether, it would be enforced. Would police rush into restaurants to demand that smokers stub out their cigarettes? About nine months into the ban, however, it appears the state is relying on complaints from people like Cain to investigate ban breakers. After a complaint is made, one of the state's 168 police officers and inspectors visits the business, sometimes armed with cameras.
But of the hundreds of complaints, the state has taken action - or has pending action - against only 27 businesses, including 10 in the greater Tampa Bay area such as Spring Hill Lanes in Hernando County and Suncoast Resort Hotel in St. Petersburg.
Six businesses have paid fines ranging from $250 to $750, the maximum for the first violation. Wild Willie's Bar and Grill in Largo, whose name has since been changed to Maxine's, was the first in the state to pay a fine, $250.
"Complaints have definitely tapered off after the first two or three months," said Jack Tuter, director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, which is part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Under the constitutional amendment passed by voters, smoking is now illegal in nearly all businesses, including restaurants, bowling alleys and bars that generate at least 10 percent of their gross revenue from food sales.
State officials dubbed bars exempted from the smoking ban a "stand-alone bar" or a "stand-alone bar with food." Officials have made 1,481 such designations. But Tuter and Shannon were unsure how many of those might have been given in error, as with Sabrina's.
"I can't give you a number, but it's very few," Tuter said. "One a month at maximum."
In the case of Sabrina's, state officials recommended that the bar pay a $250 fine but later dismissed the charges because the bar mistakenly was under exemption during the violation. Officials, however, plan to revoke the exemption for Sabrina's because it doesn't meet physical requirements, Shannon said.
Tuter declined to comment on how Sabrina's received an exemption because the case is pending. Messages left at Sabrina's and its Tampa attorney, Jeffrey C. Shannon, were not returned.
Meanwhile, Cain, the Best Western manager, wonders why smoking is still allowed.
"I don't understand why the minute the state realized (Sabrina's) wasn't a stand-alone, why they've been allowed to continue smoking in there with no consequences," she said.
State officials already have taken action at other establishments.
At Wild Willie's in Largo, for example, less than a month into the ban, an agent, acting on a complaint, walked into the bar and grill one afternoon and saw two customers smoking as they played pool. Another customer sat at the bar, smoking. The agent gave Wild Willie's a 30-day notice to comply.
When the agent returned to Wild Willie's a month later, he saw a couple sitting in a booth eating and smoking. At the bar, several people sat smoking and drinking. The investigator even took a picture of a customer at the bar with a lit cigarette in an ashtray.
In October, the business paid a $250 fine. Managers declined to comment to the Times.
In another case, two agents walked into Busch's Sports Bar & Grill in Tampa "in an undercover capacity," according to reports. They saw people smoking at the bar. The owner told them "the law would put him out of business."
In January, the owners let P&J Mar Inc. take over the business. Jon Riddle, the bar and grill's general manager, said the new owner intends to attract a new clientele. Smoking is prohibited in the business because its license requires that at least 51 percent of sales come from food.
"We're driving more toward a family-style restaurant," Riddle said. Children dining with adults now eat free on Wednesdays, and the establishment gives Busch Gardens visitors a 15 percent discount, he said.
At the Suncoast Resort Hotel on U.S. 19, state officials told the manager, Glenn Biffignani, that the hotel didn't qualify for an exemption. After the 30-day notice to comply with the ban passed, Biffignani told an agent that he knew about customers smoking and that he would continue to allow them to smoke, according to a report.
In an interview, Suncoast co-owner Tom Kiple denied that Biffignani was defiant. But he later said, "We don't restrict or allow" smoking at the 9-acre resort that also includes bars, restaurants, and convention and recreation facilities. "We have a lot of indoor-outdoor activity here," Kiple said.
Kiple said he and his staff have gotten conflicting information from state officials about whether they can permit smoking, and they remain confused. Meg Shannon, the state spokeswoman, said the resort's license prohibits smoking.
"We've hired a lawyer, and we're waiting for the hearing to come up," Kiple said referring to a yet-to-be scheduled meeting with state officials. "We need to know what the facts are."
State officials encourage you to first notify an establishment's management if you witness a smoking ban violation in a restaurant or bar. If that doesn't help, complaints may be filed with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation on the Internet at www.MyFloridaLicense.com Under "Public Services," click on "File a Complaint" and select "Smoking." You also may contact the department's Customer Contact Center at 850 487-1395 or write to the department at 1940 N Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1021.
For complaints regarding enclosed workplaces other than businesses licensed by the business and professional regulation department, call the Florida Department of Health at 1 (800) 337-3742
SMOKY BLUES
Top counties for smoking ban complaints:
Pinellas 169
Hillsborough 141
Broward 129
Palm Beach 114
Volusia 73
Lee 71
Brevard 63
Orange 63
Miami-Dade 62
Pasco 50
Manatee 39
- Source: Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
