The Claytonization of Kirkwood – The New Brand

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Below is my speech from last night's City Council meeting ...



I sat in utter disbelief at the last City Council meeting as I watched Ms. Loemker re-establish her pattern of misinformation to you our City Council and to our community as a whole.

It is clear the “duke it out” battle Ms. Loemker and her allies like Ms. Pat Linsdey of Tobacco-Free Missouri (T-FMo) are going to wage in our community will be filled with similar disingenuous statements as their 2006 campaign was rife with.

Ms. Loemker came before this body and tried to extol the virtues of the process in Clayton. She talked about how fair and equitable the process was in how Clayton came up with their alleged smoking ban. She even invited us to come and see the process unfold. She alluded to the idea that we in Kirkwood could be more “progressive.” Yes, Ms. Loemker is all for her own brand of the Claytonization of Kirkwood.

Yet, is there really a “smoking ban” in Clayton as Ms. Anna Forder reported in her Webster-Kirkwood Times article? No – not at all.

The facts show there were multiple re-writes by the Clayton City Council to ensure a certain … shall I say … Ritzy establishment … would be excluded from their alleged “smoking ban.”

Yes, in the City of Clayton if you are rich and powerful, then the powers that be will bend over backwards to ensure you can smoke and imbibe in adult beverages no matter if an employee has to be exposed to second-hand smoke or not.

So just how is the Clayton City Council’s alleged smoking ban treating all parts of its community fairly and equitably? How could anyone think this kind of legislative hypocrisy is “progressive” or needed in our community?

I guess if every bar in Kirkwood that wanted to cater to smoking patrons just added “RC” in front of their name, then they would be exempted and acceptable to Ms. Loemker with her new brand of the Claytonization of Kirkwood?

It is interesting how in Ms. Loemker’s view it is “progressive” for a certain bar in Clayton to get an exemption, but in Kirkwood our only choice is whatever she and her anti-smoking allies from throughout the state of Missouri have already decided for us.

Ms. Loemker and her group of surrogate citizens have once again refused to allow any other part of our community to have any say in the drafting of a smoking ban that affects us all. It proves not a single one of them is interested in working with our community as a whole.

For this group to once again try to use the Citizens Initiative Petition process to force their one-sided proposal on our community is an abuse of that very process. It is an abuse of the community good faith and trust our City Charter was founded upon. It is an abuse of our City government. It is an abuse of our business community. It is an abuse of our tax dollars. It is an abuse of the clear decision made by voters in November 2006.

I once again call upon the leaders of Citizens for a Smoke Free Kirkwood (CSFK) or Healthy Air for Kirkwood (HAK) or whatever name they want to call themselves next, to do the right thing and the honorable thing for our entire community and withdraw their Initiative Petition.

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I hope fellow Kirkwoodians would echo my call for these folks to put aside their pointless, political battle in our community.

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