Did a local clean indoor air policy increase alcohol-related crime around bars and restaurants?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the adoption of a local clean indoor air (CIA) policy in St. Paul, Minnesota, was associated with changes in alcohol-related crimes outside on-premises alcohol-licensed businesses. DESIGN: The enactment of a comprehensive CIA policy on 31 March 2006 was used as the intervention time point in an interrupted time-series analysis to assess changes in weekly crime frequency prior to the policy enactment compared with the period after the policy was established (n=261 weeks). SETTING: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. SUBJECTS: On-premise alcohol-licensed business addresses were collected from St. Paul, Minnesota, for the period of January 2003 to December 2007, and geocoded. A 500-foot (152.4 m) buffer was drawn around each business. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Alcohol-related crime (ie, arrest) data were obtained from the St. Paul Police Department; crimes had been geocoded by the police department. They were aggregated by week to include only those crimes that occurred within the drawn buffer. Relevant types of crimes included serious (eg, aggravated assaults, homicide, robbery, rape and theft) and less serious (eg, lesser assault, fighting, noise violations, public drunkenness/lewdness or other liquor law violations) crimes. RESULTS: Within a buffer of 500 foot of alcohol-licensed businesses, 23 978 serious alcohol-related crimes and 49 560 less serious alcohol-related crimes occurred over 5 years. Using interrupted time-series analyses to compare the weekly alcohol-related crime frequency in proximity with the bars and restaurants, we found no significant change in either type of crime associated with the local comprehensive CIA policy (p=0.13) after adjustment for seasonal differences and overall crime frequencies. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from this study suggests that alcohol-related crimes were not significantly affected by a local comprehensive CIA policy that banned smoking in public workplaces in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Effects of clean indoor air laws on bar and restaurant revenue in Minnesota cities.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, local governments have strengthened laws to prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants to promote patron and employee health. Because of concerns that clean indoor air policies could have negative economic effects on some hospitality businesses, some cities have adopted partial clean indoor air policies (e.g., exempting bars). PURPOSE: This paper considers how partial and comprehensive smokefree policies affected bar and restaurant revenue, using quarterly data reported to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. METHODS: Data from ten Minnesota cities from 2003 to 2007 were used to conduct a time-series analysis in 2009, adjusting for the population size of each city. RESULTS: Bars and restaurants governed by either partial or comprehensive policies had slightly higher revenues than those not regulated by any local clean indoor air policy. Bars and restaurants governed by partial local bans reported 0.009% higher total revenue (p = 0.5) and 0.052% higher liquor sales revenue (p = 0.003) than those not covered by a ban. Bars and restaurants governed by comprehensive local bans reported 0.026% higher total revenue (p = 0.05) and 0.018% higher liquor sales revenue (p = 0.35). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that smoking bans, whether comprehensive or partial, do not have a negative effect on bar and restaurant total or liquor revenues and may be associated with slightly higher revenue compared to not having a clean indoor air policy.

Employment change for bars and restaurants following a statewide clean indoor air policy.

BACKGROUND: Clean indoor air policies have been adopted to protect employees in all workplaces from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Despite numerous studies where no significant economic effects were associated with clean indoor air policies, concerns persist that such policies will have a severe, negative effect on alcohol-licensed businesses. PURPOSE: This study examines the effect of a comprehensive, statewide clean indoor air law on bar and restaurant employment in Minnesota as a whole, as well as by region in the state. METHODS: Interrupted time-series analyses were conducted separately on bar and restaurant employment between 2004 and 2008 using data reported by businesses to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. The statewide clean indoor air policy was implemented October 2007; analyses were conducted in 2009. RESULTS: After accounting for changes in employment in all other sectors for the state as a whole, there were no significant changes in statewide bar or restaurant employment associated with the state-level clean indoor air policy. Additionally, no significant changes were observed in regional bar or restaurant employment following enactment of the clean indoor air policy. CONCLUSIONS: Enactment of a comprehensive clean indoor air policy in Minnesota did not result in significant changes in bar or restaurant employment in rural or urban regions of the state or the state as a whole. In Minnesota, neither bars nor restaurants were associated with significant changes in employment following the enactment of a comprehensive, statewide clean indoor air policy.

Recommendations for addressing quality and health assessment initiatives in Minnesota.

A recent priority of the Assessment Initiative in Minnesota has been to develop recommendations for addressing quality and health assessment activities in the state. These recommendations consist of a comprehensive array of issues, most of which where there was fairly strong consensus and a few of which where there were differing perspectives among key stakeholders. There are some significant opportunities for advancing quality and health assessment activities in Minnesota in the context of state and national programs in health care and public health.