Rami Abdallah, a 21-year-old student in LAS, stood smoking in front of the Illini Union when he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. On the pack, he had written the date when he planned to quit smoking.

“(I) realized it’s a health issue,” he said.

The Urbana City Council will hear the arguments against smoking during a public forum on March 9. The council is using the forum to decide whether to create an ordinance, which will ban smoking in public places.

An estimated 35,052 nonsmokers die from coronary heart disease each year as a result of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, according to the American Heart Association.

Champaign Mayor Gerald Schweighart said that he doesn’t expect Urbana to pass the ordinance without Champaign because an ordinance will hurt local businesses, like bars.

Last year, the Champaign City Council voted against an ordinance that would have banned smoking in indoor public places in a five to four vote. Schweighart said that when Champaign held a public hearing on smoking, mostly Urbana residents came to voice their opinions on the issue.

“I think they’re going overboard with some of these ordinances,” he said.

Sitting in the smoking area of Caf‚ Paradiso, 701 S. Lincoln Ave., Stephen Swords, an Urbana resident, said smokers have been dealing with anti-smoking legislation for 10 years.

“It’s not necessarily other people’s business . what other people do,” he said, adding that individual businesses should be able to decide whether to ban smoking in their own establishments. Swords said he believes that a smoking ordinance in Urbana is “inevitable” because the city doesn’t have as much money invested in bar life as Champaign does.

The Canopy Club, 708 S. Goodwin Ave., which has a bar and allows smoking, will host a smoke-free concert on March 12. Mike Armintrout, a manager at the club, said that it is not uncommon for artists to occasionally request smoke-free environments, and the Canopy honors those requests.

“Most of the time (fans) are going to be very respective of that,” he said.

Armintrout, 28, who said he has been smoking for “way too long,” said the Canopy would support a smoke-free ordinance.

“We would all love it if the place we worked at was non-smoking,” he said.

Papa Del’s Pizza, 206 E. Green St., Champaign, became smoke-free in October of 2005.

Owner Bob Monti said having a smoking section in the restaurant created problems – fumes from the smoking section would drift into the non-smoking section and seats would not fill up as quickly. He says he heard positive responses from the smokeless Urbana restaurant Silvercreek Restaurant, 402 N. Race St. Monti said he anticipated the Champaign City Council to ban smoking. Once the ban didn’t garner enough support in the council, he took the matter into his own hands.

When Allen Strong opened Silvercreek Restaurant 15 years ago, he said it was the first smoke-free restaurant in Illinois.

“We were a groundbreaker,” Strong said.

Smoking takes a toll on the building, employees and customers, he said, and separating smoking and non-smoking sections is not foolproof.

He said the two cities should pass an ordinance together so business in bars will not be affected. Strong said he is not worried about the bar in Silvercreek, because the bar doesn’t have a large clientele, Strong said.

Many bars are not set up in a way that would allow them to designate outside smoking areas, said Christine Phillips, bartender at Rose Bowl Tavern in Urbana. A smoker of 10 years, she said she opposes a smoking ordinance.

“I don’t like people telling me what I can or can’t do,” Phillips said.

Susan Farner, a lecturer in the Department of Community Health at the University, said that while patrons can decide not to go to a business that allows smoking, the choice might be more difficult for the employees.

“Some people don’t have the option of finding other employment,” she said.

Currently, there is an ordinance in place in Urbana that designates specific areas to smokers in public places, Urbana City Council member Dennis Roberts said.

“What’s changed is what we understand about the effect of second-hand smoke,” he said.

The new ordinance, Roberts said, might potentially include bars that serve food, restaurants, bus terminals and other public facilities.

The forum will take place at the Carle Forum in the Pollard Auditorium, 506 W. Park St., Urbana, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. President of Champaign-Urbana Smoke-free Alliance Scott Hays, Dr. Robert Scully of the Health Alliance, representatives from Ned Kelly’s and Milo’s restaurants, and Springfield Alderman Bruce Strom have planned to present at the forum.

Rami Abdallah, whose uncle owns a hookah bar, said he opposes a smoking ordinance, because he believes it will cost business to bars. For many people smoking and drinking are pastimes that go hand in hand, he said.