WEDNESDAY, NOV.14, 2001
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Post-basketball game traffic
Melissa Carr/KANSAN
Road closed
Direction of traffic on street
Smoking limited at some bars
By Matt Norton Kansan staff writer
"Would you like smoking or non-smoking?"
At some area restaurants and bars, you won't hear that question — and you won't see anyone smoking, either.
Pat Roberts is one of the four principal co-owners of the new Johnny's Tavern, 155th and Nieman streets, in Overland Park, which is the first smoke-free sports bar in the city.
Johnny's is complying with a City of Overland Park ordinance that went into effect in March 2000 requiring new, non fast food restaurants to either be smoke-free or meet standards for smoke-restricted establishments.
Those restrictions include posting signs stating that smoking occurs on site and separating non-smoking areas as much as possible from smoking areas. Proprietors must also design their restaurants so that patrons don't have to pass through smoking areas to get to common facilities, like restrooms or telephones.
Roberts said Johnny's was
using the city's restriction to its advantage. It now uses its status as a non-smoking bar as an advertising tool.
"We're playing the heck out of it," Roberts said. "Once we committed to it, we knew we had to get the word out."
Lawrence's only smoke-free restaurant and bar is Prairie Fire, An American Bistro. 724 Massachusetts St. The establishment's owners declined comment for this story.
Tammy Babington, owner and manager of First Watch Restaurant, 2540 Iowa, said the corporate office decided to make the chain restaurants smokeless about 10 years ago.
She said making the establishment smoke free made sense because First Watch was only open for breakfast and lunch and no alcohol was served
Robbers from Johnny's Tavern said according to wisdom, people wanted to smoke at bars. But because the location was so prime for opening a sports bar and the property was not large enough to have a separate smoking area, the owners decided to take a chance on making it smoke-
Roberts said the owners were criticized for making Johnny's a smoke-free bar. They were told such an idea wouldn't work.
"We were scared the whole time," he said. "Until two weeks after the opening, we were second-guessing ourselves."
Stevi Cabral, general manager at Johnny's, said she enjoyed working in the smoke-free environment.
"Now I don't have to go home and shower before I go to sleep." she said.
But a comfortable working and dining environment is not the only reason for having anti-smoking laws.
According to the American Lung Association Web site, second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 53,000 deaths annually in the U.S., most because of cardiovascular disease. It also increases the risk of respiratory infections and intensifies asthma complications.
California, Utah and Vermont have laws prohibiting smoking in public buildings. Boulder, Colo., Flagstaff and Mesa, Ariz., and New York
City have similar laws banning smoking in restaurants and bars.
Babington said she liked working in a smoke free environment but would be surprised if anti-smoking laws like the one in California worked here.
"I wouldn't want to have anyone telling me I couldn't have smoking in my restaurant," she said.
A 1999 University of California at San Francisco study on the affects of anti-smoking legislation on tourism in those areas found that only in Flagstaff was there a significant drop in hotel revenue. California, Utah and Vermont all had an increase in hotel receipts.
Roberts didn't know if the other three Johnny's locations in Lawrence and Kansas City would become non-smoking,but said he anticipated that new ventures his group pursued would be smoke-free
"I think it's definitely a trend that will progress and one that we will follow," he said. "I've even had smokers tell me they enjoy it."
Melissa Cerr/KANSAN
More students heading to grad school, LSATs
By Eve Lamborn Kansan staff writer
Anna Smith will earn an art history degree this spring, but she plans to go to graduate school next fall to increase her chances of landing a job, something more students are considering now that the economy seems headed downhill.
The Hutchinson senior said she wanted to work in a museum one day
"I don't know what kind of job I could get with an undergraduate degree right now," she said.
Smith said the poor economy was a factor in her decision to attend graduate school, even though she had always considered the idea.
total of 4 + 16 applicants
This is a big change compared to other years, said Diana Carlin, dean of the KU graduate school. The number of applicants declined between 1993 and 1998. Between 1999 and 2000, the number of applicants increased by only
"The lower-tier jobs are not available right now," she said.
The number of applicants to begin graduate school at KU this year increased by 635 students, bringing the total to 4.416 applicants.
The number of applicants to KU's graduate school increased significantly last year, as did the number of students taking the Law School Admission Test. These increases mirror the nation's economic downturn, which one economic expert, Wayne D. Angell, former member of the Federal Reserve Board, said began in March.
69 students.
69 students. In June, the number of students who took the Law School Admission Test increased 18.6 percent from the 2000 June test, said Ed Haggerty, media relations specialist for the Law School Admission Council.
Admission Coorid The October test takers increased 23.5 percent from 2000. Haggerty said Between 1999 and 2000, the number of test takers in October increased by only 1.8 percent, and the year before that the number increased by 2.8 percent
Haggerty said the increase in the number of test takers was significant.
"This is the first year we've seen a big, big jump in about a decade," Haggerty said.
He said the huge increase in test takers could possibly be traced to the economic downturn. If fewer opportunities are available for graduating students, they might look at other options, he said.
Carlin said no concrete data linked the health of the economy with the number of students in graduate school, but there was a correlation
but here I am.
"My gut feeling is that it does have an impact," she said. "When you have a choice of jobs, why stay in graduate school when you can go make money somewhere else?"
Contact Lamborn at 864-4810
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
Zoning could affect students
Students living in duplexes in Old West Lawrence may have to comply with the city's new housing code.
The code says no more than three unrelated people can live in a residence in an area zoned for single-family use.
Residents from the neighborhood, located between Arkansas and Alabama streets from Sixth to Ninth streets, asked the City Commission last night to rezone their neighborhood from duplex zoning to single-family zoning
If the Commission approves the rezoning, the duplexes in the area will be forced to comply with the city's housing ordinance by 2004.
In other business, the City Commission heard from Michael Young, transportation intern for the city, on waves to
improve bicycle parking in downtown Lawrence. Young recommended that the city should:
- develop new guidelines on the type, make and location of all bicycle racks in town, especially in the downtown area.
- adopt a standard that would guarantee bicycle parking within 50 feet of business and public facility entrances
create a way for bicyclists to comment on bicycle issues and register complaints.
■ install more bicycle racks down town
In the mean time, Mike Wildgen, city manager, said it would be acceptable to park bicycles on meters if done in a "responsible manner."
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810