Here's a letter to the editor penned by Sue Jeffers, owner of Stub and Herb's in SE Mpls.
Hey Dan, Here is my letter to the editor, doubt it will see the light of day...post it with your excellent one on the forum! Sue Some call it spin, I call it just another lie to deceive the general public. Smoking bans damage the hospitality industry especially bars, bans cause lost revenues, lost jobs and closed businesses. Worse yet, no one is any healthier including our cities, county and state coffers. It is easy to distort the numbers. By including liquor store sales, the liquor sales become inflated. By including fast food, coffee shops and convenience stores the food sales become inflated. Omitting businesses that have already closed or were not open 3 consecutive years, distort the numbers further, implying a healthy hospitality industry. The first three months of the smoking ban showed alcohol revenues in Hennepin County grew .15%, much lower than prevous year and much lower than all other counties in the entire 7 county metro area. These numbers also included liquor stores, if those sales were removed, the revenues would show a loss. We should be showing double digit increases similar to other areas with out a smoking ban not the list of over 50 closed businesses that keeps growing longer and longer. Now add .08, a minimum wage increase and cold weather the numbers will be even more depressed causing more closed businesses and more lost jobs. The latest new study shows heart attacks rates have remained the same or increased across the country after bans were implemented and in the case of MA heart attacks increased 35%. Most people know the days of the smoke filled "blue bars" are long gone. Owners have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ventilation to make all our customers comfortable and it works, just ask the airports or the hospitals. Shame on the elected officials trying to gain a state wide ban on the backs of the local businesses. Elected officials have forgotten property rights should trump entitlement rights every time. Maybe like NW Airlines or Ford, bars can become a "tax free zone" or get state or local aid to for the thousands of lost jobs a smoking ban causes. Or maybe the local councils and commissions don't really care about the "little guy" after all. Sue Jeffers Stub and Herb's 612-384-4374 Dan McGrath Longfellow http://www.minnesotansagainstsmokingbans.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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
