Ventilatie voldoet prima en is betaalbaar

Zelfs in New York overweegt men nu ventilatie in te zetten om de ergste gevolgen van de tabakswet voor zowel horeca-eigenaren als hun gasten te verlichten. Een apparaat van $3.600 is in staat om zelfs anthrax uit de lucht te halen, vermeldt een artikel in de New York Post.

Inmiddels hebben we hier ook in Nederland een offerte aangevraagd voor ventilatie in een doorsnee café. Is de prijs van 1000 Euro/m2 die Hoogervorst in zijn brief, die morgen in de VWS commissie behandeld wordt, het laatste wanhopige stukje blufpoker van een fanatieke ex- én anti-roker?

New York Post artikel:

By CHRIS BUNTING

New York pub owners are pinning their hopes on a 90-pound gadget to put butts – and cash – back into bars.

It’s called the Airistar 1000, an air purifier that removes dangerous microscopic contaminants – like germs, fungal spores, even anthrax – from the air.

Spurred on by bar owners who say the smoking ban has extinguished their take by as much as 40 percent, two Albany lawmakers are finalizing identical bills that would permit smoking where filters like the Airistar 1000 are installed.

The $3,500 gizmo – so named because it cleans 1,000 cubic feet of air per minute – can eliminate 99 percent of cigarette smoke in a matter of minutes.

Manufactured by Illinois company Airistar, it’s equipped with wheels for mobility and can blend into the background of a bar as a table.

“These state-of-the-art filters make room air cleaner than what you breathe outside,” New York Night Life Association spokesman Basil Anastassiou said after a recent demonstration in the office of Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito (D-Rome). State Sen. Raymond Meier (R-Western) is also sponsoring a similar bill.

According to he company’s advertising manager, Sean Burke, 115 Airistar 1000s have been sold around the country since they went on sale eight months ago, and 19 were bought by restaurants and bars.

Sam Pappas, owner of Market Square, a bar 20 miles outside of Chicago, installed the gadget to quell customers’ complaints about smoky air, despite the fact that Illinois hasn’t imposed a smoking ban.

“We hold events ranging from birthdays to Super Bowl parties, and I’d get complaints about the mist of smoke,” Pappas said. “Now the place is crystal clear.”

Even if Albany’s new laws are passed, the Big Apple won’t be immediately inhaling the benefits.

“New York City’s laws are more stringent than the bill I’m proposing – and the city’s law would preempt it,” Meier said.

“However, passage of my bill might persuade city council members to follow suit.”

The New York Night Life Association is armed with a petition addressed to Gov. Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno signed by 40,000 from bar patrons and workers – one-quarter from New York City – asking that smoking be permitted in air-filtered bars.

Almost a year after Mayor Bloomberg’s smoking ban went into effect on July 24, 2003, New York City bars are still feeling the economic burn.

“The city’s bars lose on average an estimated 15 to 19 percent in revenues because of the ban,” said Brian Nolan, executive director of United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York, Inc.

Interviews with more than a dozen bar owners and managers conducted by The Post show the revenue loss is often even more extreme.

Fiddlers Green, a bar on West 48th Street, shut down April 1.

“Sales were down 25 percent,” said Eugene Wilson, the bar’s manager. “Three of our waitresses left because they weren’t making enough in tips.”

Sandee Wright, the co-owner of Whiskey Ward on Essex Street, said she was battling a 30 to 40 percent drop in sales.

“I’ve had to lay three people off, starting with my doorman – my husband does it for free now,” she said.

Luchtbehandelingsysteem voor een horeca onderneming