Let's set the scene. The city is grappling with open-air drug markets, rampant property crime, and a downtown that still hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic exodus. And the policy priority du jour? Making sure someone can't light up a cigarette on a bar patio.

As one local put it perfectly: "Peak SF. Can't control crime and vandalism, penalize law-abiding citizens and businesses for the city's own incompetence."

That pretty much sums it up. San Francisco has a remarkable talent for regulating the people who are already following the rules while throwing its hands up at the ones who aren't. Bar owners — people who pay taxes, employ workers, pull permits, and jump through a thousand regulatory hoops just to keep the lights on — are once again being told that their businesses need more oversight. Meanwhile, actual public health crises on our sidewalks remain largely unaddressed.

Look, nobody's arguing that secondhand smoke is great. But outdoor patios are already, well, outdoors. The ventilation situation is handled by the sky. And as one Bay Area resident noted, "I'm not a fan of tobacco smoke, but people have been smoking in front of bars forever. Leave 'em be."

Another local captured the frustration even more succinctly: "We love solving problems we don't have. Why are we wasting resources on this?"

That's the real question. Every hour a supervisor spends crafting and debating a patio smoking ban is an hour not spent on the things that are actually driving residents and businesses out of the city. It's governance by vibes — pick the low-hanging fruit that sounds progressive while the hard problems fester.

Bar owners aren't asking for the moon. They're asking to be left alone to run legal businesses that serve adults making their own choices on an open-air patio. That shouldn't be a radical concept. If City Hall wants to regulate something outdoors, maybe start with the fentanyl.