Champaign Mayor Gerald Schweighart plans to submit an informal proposal with potential alternatives to the citywide smoking ordinance at tonight’s Champaign city council meeting. The Mayor declined to discuss the specifics of his proposal, not wanting to divulge any information before the city council could review it. He said that the options to be set forth are open to consideration and alterations by council members.

“I want the council to read them, tweak them, not force them down their throats,” Schweighart said.

The Mayor said he consulted several local business owners about his suggestions but, only in generalities.

Schweighart said his disagreement with the ordinance prompted his creation of the proposal.

“I disagree with the smoking ban,” Schweighart said. “I disagree with the five members of the council who dictated what businesses can and can not do.”

The smoking ordinance was passed in Champaign on May 16 and is slated to take effect Aug. 1 for all establishments excluding bars, which are slated for January 2007. The ordinance currently prohibits smoking in public places. Although it can not be determined, the Mayor’s proposal will likely address the controversy surrounding the inclusion of all bars and restaurants under the ban.

Since the Mayor is on vacation for the week, Deputy Mayor Michael La Due will submit the proposal in his absence.

Chris Knight, owner of the Blind Pig, 120 N. Walnut St., Champaign, welcomed the Mayor’s ideas and hoped they will amend the existing law. Upset with the ordinance, Knight, who was not consulted beforehand by the Mayor, said changes to the ordinance are necessary if certain businesses are to survive.

“(Smoking ordinances) are very bad for business,” Knight said. “In fact, they are disastrous for business.”

Knight said he hopes the proposed options will include an exemption for all class A liquor license holders, bars and taverns where more than 40 percent of their total sales come from alcohol.

Knight said he would also support a proposition similar to city of Chicago’s smoking ordinance where, until July 1, 2008, smoking is still allowed in bars and taverns and within 15 feet of any restaurant bar.

“Ideally, I would just like them to exempt bars,” Knight said.

Matt Varble, communications director for C-U Smokefree Alliance, sees the Mayor’s action as unproductive and unwarranted.

“It’s over,” Varble said. “We talked this thing to death and he keeps trying to bring it up … The decision has been made so why would we want to stir this up again when (the present ordinance) hasn’t even gone into effect?”

Varble said the Mayor and the council was given a compromise in the past, only to reject it, and any effort to modify the ordinance as it stands is too late. He also said the proposal is likely to fail.

“I don’t think there are five people (on the council) who are going to support it and if there are I’d be surprised,” Varble said.