Death by City Hall
The mayor of the City of Saint Paul is trying to kill me. I suppose it has to do with my having expressed unflattering opinions about him. But hey, I can\’t help it, I just channel the truth, I don\’t invent it.
If I did, I wouldn\’t have invented this outcome to the vote on the smoking ban; the city council voted in favor, but with only a 4-3 margin. That\’s one vote shy of the margin needed to override a veto by the mayor.
You know, the mayor who\’s trying to kill me? He says he would support a regional smoking ban, but he\’ll veto this one because it applies only to Saint Paul. His concern, apparently, is that all the smokers would drive out to Fridley and Anoka and Blaine if they weren\’t allowed to smoke in Saint Paul bars and restaurants.
There is contradictory evidence about whether that would actually happen. And there\’s been little mention of the chance that non-smokers would come to Saint Paul from places like Fridley, Blaine, and Anoka specifically to get away from the smoke.
What bothers me is that Kelly (and almost everyone else) concedes that a regional smoking ban is inevitable in the Twin Cities. It might be a few months away; it might be a few years. But it\’s coming. Kelly just doesn\’t want Saint Paul to be the first to adopt it.
Which means he\’s willing to trade a few months or years of questionably better business for bars and restaurants for a few months or years of unquestionably worse health for the people in those bars and restaurants. In the time it takes for a regional smoking ban to pass, more people are going get exposed to cancer-causing cigarette smoke. Some of them will be fine, I\’m sure, but some won\’t.
And what do we get in exchange? We might save the bars, restaurants and their employees some undetermined amount of money. Might. And how does that amount compare to the health care costs of a few more months of exposing employees and patrons to a proven killer? Who knows?
But even if, in the balance, a smoking ban has a negative economic impact, it would still be the right thing to do. And, like I said before, Mayor Kelly knows that; he\’s said he believes a regional smoking ban is inevitable, and he\’ll support it.
So why won\’t he take leadership on this issue? Why is he waiting for another mayor to come along and lead the way? Surely Kelly realizes that other cities – Fridley, Anoka, Blaine, etc. – are looking to the capital to see what to do next. And if Saint Paul were to take the risk, does anyone doubt that other cities would follow?
But no. Our M-m-m-mayor? talks of vetoes and threatens my well-being in indirect and inconspicuous ways. If he walked up to me and started rubbing coal-dust in my chest, it would be a lot more exciting (and less effective, since I coal-proofed my skin last year). If he did that, I could punch him, or run away, or confuse him by yelling \”Hare Krisha!\” But Kelly doesn\’t fight fair; he\’s swinging a smoking-ban veto at my lungs and throat, and all I\’ve got to fight back with is this Web site and my wicked paper clip bending skills (it\’s like voodoo mixed with Twister).
So, obviously I can\’t take him by myself. But maybe if enough people e-mailed him he would change his mind (try using \”Hare Krisha!\” in the subject line; it\’s just as effective in print). Tell him you want a mayor who doesn\’t wait for approval before doing what\’s right.
Mayor Kelly ought to be jumping in to the smoking-ban waters to show the rest of the region it\’s safe to go in. Instead, he\’s doing the exact opposite; he\’s tiptoeing around the edges and stalling for time.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left gasping for air.