A third chance for the city to clear the air

George Washington long ago described the United States Senate as a saucer in which the legislation of the day would cool. Our first president got it pretty much right.

Sadly, two centuries later, just blocks from where Washington and company were sketching out the Constitution, another saucer is working its magic at City Hall.

Although, this week, Councilwoman Marian Tasco tossed one piece of frozen legislation in the microwave. We would all benefit if it were at last defrosted because this is City Council's third stab at something that ought to have been made law years ago.

The bill is a much-talked-about ban on cigarette smoking in restaurants, bars and other public spaces. Tasco, a 68-year-old Democrat who represents portions of North Philadelphia, paved the way for the bill to sail through the Public Health Committee on Monday.

Now it's up to the full Council to finish the job, something it failed to do this time last year when Councilman Michael Nutter proposed nearly identical legislation.

Not only would it be a big win for the thousands of restaurant workers in the city who are stuck breathing second-hand smoke at work, but it would also score major political points for Nutter, who lost this fight a year ago. He's eager to have a victory under his belt, which could only prove beneficial heading into next year's mayoral election.

It's a fair bet Nutter will run, and at this point he cannot give the appearance of playing a distant second-fiddle to Mayor John Street, who essentially killed the last smoking bill he said he supported.

"They passed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in a shorter amount of time," Nutter told reporters on Monday, expressing his frustration with the continued delay on the anti-smoking law.

He's got a point, and this time he may come out a winner.

It was Rick Mariano who led the charge for the tobacco-slingers last time. With him soon to be out of Council and behind bars after being convicted of corruption two weeks ago, the door may be open for the non-smoking crowd.

Now it's up to Council to walk through that door. But don't get your hopes up -- the legislature may not be so inclined. Its track record is none so good on getting things done that people actually want. After all, its been working on this smoking ban since I arrived at Penn four years ago.

Here's a recap in case you were not around. Tasco's bill would add restaurants, bars and hotels to the list of places where smoking has been prohibited since the city first passed public health standards 50 years ago. Starting Jan. 2, 2007, Philadelphia would kick the habit for good.

The bill itself goes to great lengths to make the case that second-hand smoke is just as much an issue of workplace safety as any other on-the-job hazard outlawed by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. No wonder they called it the Clean Indoor Air Worker Protection Law.

The Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco, an interest group that is backing the legislation, said that 71 percent of the 500 area voters it polled favored a ban on smoking, including 62 percent of people who said they smoked "occasionally."

No one is questioning the adverse effects of second-hand smoke, especially on employees who spend eight or more hours exposed to it each day. Opponents of the legislation are up in arms over the threat to individual liberties and restaurateurs' rights to run their businesses as they see fit. But something has to give. The government often takes paternalistic steps to protect workers, and it is that safety -- in this case coupled with a more pleasant experience for the rest of us -- that ought to prevail here.

And there's really no reason it shouldn't be the law already, as it is in more than a dozen states, including California and New York. Street has said for some time he supports an anti-smoking law but was anything but a cheerleader last spring when it was Nutter's bill. Hopefully, this time, now that it doesn't carry the name of the mayor's political nemesis, petty personal politics will not get in the way of something that will benefit all Philadelphians.

It's time Council stop trying to act like the world's greatest deliberative body and get something done.

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