notmymayor

The St. Louis Business Journal gives voice to the concerns of many smoke free advocates in its excoriating October 30, 2009 editorial, “Take a deep breath.” It writes:

….Proposition N (for nicotine?) has been called too weak by those who should support it and too strong by those who oppose it. So local chapters of the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and American Lung Association remain on the sidelines while bowling proprietors, tavern owners and Libertarians are sounding the alarm.

As a result, there’s an organized get-out-the-vote effort to defeat the measure and very little but deep sighs of goodwill on the part of proponents. We hasten to mention those sighs will become less deep as time goes on if the measure is defeated because second-hand smoke will make breathing more difficult.

In another show of cowardice and hesitation, the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen approved a non-smoking measure that only goes into effect if county voters approve Proposition N….

I love the editorial writer’s word choices (“cowardice and hesitation”) to describe the actions of City Aldermen who advanced an indoor smoking regulation measure earlier this month. As I Tweeted a week ago, I think that the City’s ordinance is a public relations sham that does more harm than good. Unlike the Business Journal’s editorial writers, however, I would vote no on Proposition N if given the chance. Smoke free is an all-or-nothing proposition, if you ask me.