[I'm bccing the stairs list which includes many Chicago anti-smoking 
advocates; if you're on the stairs list but not improvetheworld and want 
to see any follow-up discussion, let me know.]

This is interesting, both because of the potentially exciting imminent 
news for Chicago and because of the implications for political activism:

   Smokefree workplace legislation finally made it out of a Chicago City
   Council committee Thursday, but officials gave opponents until Nov. 30
   to try to weaken it. If passed as is, Chicago would join New York, Los
   Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and hundreds of other cities in
   requiring clean indoor air for workers.

   Alderperson Pat O'Connor, Mayor Daley's unofficial City Council floor
   leader, suggested that the law might be weakened, "There will be some
   changes. At the end of this, I'd like to see both sides screaming. At
   that point, we'd know that we probably did a good job at trying to draw
   a line down the middle."

     http://www.smokefree.net/chicago
     http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/wb/smoke
     http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/stairs

One of the proposed compromises is to allow businesses to purchase a 
smoking license.  This is an old idea from one of you (maybe Matt?) on 
this list and I think it's a fine compromise, maximizing everyone's 
freedom of choice.  But I obviously shouldn't admit that, given the above. 
In fact, I emailed and faxed the entire city council (smokefree.net makes 
that easy) to tell them how embarrassing it is for Chicago that it's taken 
this long to join Boston, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Seattle in 
going 100% smoke-free.

Danny

PS, don't forget Rob and Clare's feminism party tomorrow afternoon:
   http://fedibblety.com/whiteboard/party


-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/improvetheworld