Atlanta City Council Members Propose a Smoking Ban Inside Bars and Restaurants

Smoking inside Atlanta restaurants and bars and in designated lounges at concourses inside Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport could soon be banned. This includes smoking e-cigarette devices.

According to the AJC, Atlanta city council members Matt Westmoreland and Andre Dickens plan to introduce a measure at today’s meeting banning smoking inside all public and city government buildings, restaurants and bars, and in the airport’s smoking lounges. Hartsfield’s smoking lounges would be repurposed into retail shops and restaurants. The proposed no smoking ordinance doesn’t include hookah lounges and cigar bars.

The new ordinance would take effect September 1, if passed by the city council later this spring.

The current law on the books allows smoking inside city of Atlanta restaurants and bars where patrons under the age of 18 aren’t permitted and if the business includes a cordoned off area inside with proper ventilation or outside an establishment.

Both the midtown and Little Five Points locations of The Vortex went smoke free in February, following a survey of 11,000 people conducted by the owners. The Vortex was one of the few remaining restaurants in the city of Atlanta to allow smoking inside. Longtime dive bar Moe’s and Joe’s in Virginia-Highland banned smoking inside five years ago.

• It’s ‘No Smoking Allowed’ Now at Both Vortex Locations [EATL]