Many business owners say the ban, approved in a bitter contest in May 2002, by 52 percent of Tempe’s voters, was the reason their profits hemorrhaged.

“My bar business after 9 p.m. dropped $200,000 a year. Not only did it drop, it dropped overnight,” said Steve Goumas, owner of Rúla Búla on Mill Avenue. He said revenue is only now returning to the levels before May 2002.

Many quickly sunk tens of thousands of dollars into constructing patios to afford customers the chance to light up, only to see their investments fail to pay off in a timely fashion.

Bar owners and musicians maintain the ban has had a profound impact on venues featuring local musicians.

“It killed the music scene in Tempe,” Goumas said.

Longtime local musician and non-smoker Walt Richardson has called Tempe home since 1974. The folk and reggae performer hosts weekly open-mike nights in Mill Avenue venues.

“There was definitely a night-and-day difference,” Richardson said. “(The ban) affected how many people would come out to the shows. People were afraid they could get arrested, in terms of the way the laws read on the smoking ban.”

Source: The Arizona Republic. Link

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