I always love a good chance to be politically incorrect, so here I go. Attacking Peter Mcglaughin (I'm still neutral in the race for mayor and so is our paper) for maybe even thinking out loud about reconsidering his position on the smoking ban is unfair. I believe (even if I'm a casual smoker) that a total smoking ban in the state of Minnesota or at least in the Twin Cities would be the best for my health and the health of everyone else. But banning smoking only in certain areas of the Twin Cities is killing business in many restaurants and bars in Minneapolis and Hennepin County.
In the Hispanic community we have three strikes against us right now. One is the immigration policies of our federal government. Since they've increased monitoring of social security numbers for employment, wages in our community have gone down (interesting that they're still keeping the billions in social security taxes they've taken from uninvited guests in the US). Second the Lake Street reconstruction is also temporarily hurting our businesses. Then bamm: The smoking ban. I'm seeing in El Nuevo Rodeo and in several Latin owned restaurants a big drop in business since the ban. Some of 40% or more. I'm hearing even some grumbling among Hispanic business owners about moving restaurants or bars to the suburbs or St Paul. Please consider while we hold up Mcglaughin to politically correct sainthood, that he might have a point in protecting economic development in Minneapolis. Save some of you're politically correct criticisms for me. I love them. Sorry about my two posts today, but I haven't posted for a while, and really felt like expressing my views today. Alberto Monserrate President CEO Latino Communications Network (LCN Media) Publishers of Weekly Spanish Newspaper Gente de Minnesota Bi-weekly Latino Entertainment Publication Vida y Sabor Yearly Minnesota-Iowa Hispanic Yellow Pages Directory Office: 612-729-5900 Office: 612-243-1283 Fax: 612-729-5999 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.lcnmedia.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
