Thursday April 19, 2018
By Rick Rouan
A hookah lounge on North High Street [James D. DeCamp/Dispatch, file]
Columbus is considering new regulations that would force hookah lounges to close earlier and more clearly link their business practices to the city’s law prohibiting tobacco sales to people under the age of 21.
At a public hearing Wednesday, hookah lounge owners said the proposed regulations that the Columbus City Council will vote on Monday would be unfair, pointing to gas stations and grocery stores that sell tobacco but are open into the early morning.
The City Council started investigating regulations for hookah bars in 2017 after members of the local Somali community and others reached out to complain about the businesses, said city Attorney Zach Klein, who was the City Council president last year.
Some of the neighborhood complaints about hookah lounges have been for disturbances in the early hours of the morning, Columbus Police Commander Mark Lang said during the hearing.
“Most Somalis don’t go to bars or clubs or consume alcohol. People need some kind of entertainment,” Hassan Omar, director of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, told The Dispatch. “This has taken advantage of that space.”
Hookah bar owners, though, said they already are regulated by the state of Ohio, which requires them to seek an exemption from the state’s ban on indoor smoking in order to operate.
“A hookah lounge is a cafe, like any other cafe in the city,” said Galal Radwan, owner of the Sahara Shisha Cafe at 20 E. Arcadia Ave. “The hookah is an item from many items we have on the menu.”
Under the proposed legislation, hookah lounges would have to acquire an operating license from the Columbus Board of Health. Unlicensed hookah bars could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, and repeat offenders could lose their licenses for up to five years.
The city’s tobacco laws also would change to ban leasing or renting tobacco, tobacco products or paraphernalia to someone under 21. The city already bans tobacco sales to people under 21, but some lounges lease hookahs to customers, said Lara Baker-Morrish, the city’s solicitor general.
It also would require hookah lounges to close between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. Several hookah bars around Columbus advertise that they remain open until 4 a.m. Violators could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
M.I.A Hookah Cafe owner Tarik Ezzine said about 30 percent of his business at 132 E. 5th Ave. comes after 2 a.m. on weekdays and more than 50 percent comes after 2 a.m. on weekends.
Omar said young Somalis, including teenagers, are going to hookah bars to smoke and stay out late. He said that is having a negative effect on his community.
“We know we are fighting the opiate drug addiction,” he said. “We don’t want to have a tobacco and hookah addiction in the community. We’re scared.”