spartanburg downtown

Our city has some unfinished business. Spartanburg City Council needs to pass a long overdue non-smoking ordinance for our bars and restaurants.

It's not an economic issue. Other communities have banned smoking in bars and restaurants without gutting their downtown economies. Starting Jan. 2 the entire state of North Carolina, the former epicenter of cigarette manufacturing, will ban smoking in its bars and restaurants.

In an old Woody Allen film the hero recounts a recurring dream:  he's on a dark train full of sad old people and everyone is settled silently in seats waiting for departure.

There's an ancient conductor creeping down the aisle checking tickets. The hero looks out the window and there's another train headed in the opposite direction ready to leave. On it there's a party under way with exuberant people in brightly colored clothes, nobody's seated, and the lights are on. The conductor doesn't even seem to care who has a ticket over there.