Local media does some navel gazing about the loss of hospitality businesses.......but of course refuses to look at the real causes.
Excerpts:
...St. Paul's smoking ban is still fresh on tavern owners' lips......was a recent lament.....the number of new bars and restaurants attempting to open in downtown St. Paul has dwindled......While, the number of people living downtown has tripled......if you promote St. Paul for what it is, rather than what you want it to be, it'll come alive.....(St. Paul) City Council Member Dave Thune, who represents the downtown district, agrees the scene is evolving....
Thune should know best, he introduced smoking ban laws in the the Twin Cities area toward an evolution of what he wants Minnesota to be, a nanny state epitome of his Utopian, anti-business, socialist, "the good of the people" wet dream.
151+ bars and restaurants have closed in the local Twin Cities area since anti-business lawmakers enacted smoking ban laws funded by Nicoderm interests.
Meanwhile air quality testing has overwhelmingly concluded that secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html