Russo’s Rebellion Scores A Victory
By Bogus Doug
A couple of weeks back we noted Chef Lenny Russo’s urgent complaint about an impending Saint Paul city ordinance related to restaurants. Russo was so alarmed by the ordinance that he announced plans to move his restaurant out of the city.
This weekend, Russo posted an update.
A lot of people in both Minneapolis and St. Paul have been watching as those of us in the St. Paul hospitality industry have been working toward defeating a proposal by St. Paul City Council Person Melvin Carter III that would, among other things, require all restaurants and caterers to maintain and provide for their guests upon demand an allergen handbook listing all of the ingredients in each and every dish they serve.
Some weeks back, I blogged about this and about how such an ordinance would inevitably drive our restaurant, Heartland, from the environs of St. Paul. I also gave an interview on that topic to Patrick Reusse for his KSTP AM radio show. Soon thereafter, I received an email from Council Person Carter requesting a meeting. We had that meeting at Heartland last Tuesday.
Four or five years ago this might be spun as a “David versus Goliath” victory for the humble little blogosphere, what with a simple little blog post doing what the city’s paid media failed to do in bringing visibility and response to this issue. But we’re really past that point. Russo’s blog is part of the Star Tribune website, for gosh sake. David and Goliath are no longer so easy to distinguish.
In any case, the gist of the story is that they all sat down at a table and talked out Russo’s objection… at which point Councilman Carter had a metaphorical “D’oh!” moment a la Homer Simpson.
As our conversation progressed, I found him to be quite receptive to understanding how restaurants of Heartland’s ilk operate and how his proposal would stifle our ability to succeed in St. Paul while actually making people less safe. He expressed that his intention was not to do so. In addition, it rapidly became clear to him that an allergen handbook such as the one he put forth in his most recent draft was not the best way to address his concerns. … Consequently, it took Melvin about forty five minutes to declare that the idea of an allergen handbook is off the table.
Whether you own a restaurant in Saint Paul or eat in one (guilty! – ed.) that’s good news. And there’s a lot more about it in Russo’s post which I would encourage you to read – especially if you read his previous post on the topic.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Mr Carter seemed to have good intentions, just misguided. Good to hear he came open minded and heard what affect this ordinance would have. He doesn’t have a “well, they had a good run” type attitude.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Reading Mr. Russo’s whole blog, it doesn’t seem at all like he’s trying to portray this as a “duh” type of moment, but as a Council Member who quite reasonably wanted to sit down with someone who had practical concerns and a real stake in an issue, and learn from them. I think that’s an important distinction, because you make it sound like a bad thing and I don’t think that was Mr. Russo’s point at all. I would imagine we all wish more public officials were like that!
I’m glad Council Member Carterr didn’t turn out to be the ogre “we” all were afraid of a couple weeks back! 😉
September 14th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
revv5,
I would quibble with your characterization of “D’oh!” as “Duh.” Not the same thing. And that’s not just because “D’oh!” sounds funnier. “D’oh!” means, “I suddenly realize I made a stupid mistake.” Or thereabouts. And that seems to be exactly what came of this meeting.
I STILL reserve judgment about anyone who would BEGIN with proposed legislation and THEN research the impact upon his constituents. But I very much agree a councilman who takes the time to sit down and change his mind based on what he learns is infinitely better than the alternative.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I was involved in fighting the smoking ban proposed in Eden Prairie in 2002. It first came out of the blue at a city council meeting in April, a presentation by the American Cancer Society and the go ahead to draft a smoking-ban ordinance. It was an uphill battle, but in October three liberal members city council members backed off, and the work place ban failed.
The city council settled for what was basically a ban on outdoor ban in parks. They tried to spin it as a victory, and I guess it worked, as the three who voted for the “compromise” were all re-elected in their following repspective campaigns. The two who voted for a total workplace ban did not seek re-election.
What was not appreciated in the end, was the countless hours that business owners, several of who had opened Eden Prairie Restaurants in the recent past, had spent in defending their investments and rights to operate without being opressed by knee-jerk local ordinances.
Carter deserves no credit for backing off of this proposal. He failed to perfome due dilligence beforehand. Russo and others were guilty of doing nothing more than operating a business in the city of St. Paul, yet they were force to fight to keep operating their businesses without more oppressive local ordinances.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
“I STILL reserve judgment about anyone who would BEGIN with proposed legislation and THEN research the impact upon his constituents. ”
Did you hear about the so-called Human Rights inspector in Anoka? Didn’t bother to interview the teacher before making his judgement. Turns out there may be a lot more to the story than originally thought. Be very afraid of Big Gov’t.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:19 am
We’re missing some key facts:
“I STILL reserve judgment about anyone who would BEGIN with proposed legislation and THEN research the impact upon his constituents. ” Are you aware that Mr. Carter hasn’t yet proposed any legislation on this topic? And he’s researching diligently. So that’s good, right?
What Carter is doing now is only a very natural extension of what he’s been doing since before Russo’s original post. Even before that, I heard him tell business owners that his allegiance was always to the policy goal of providing people who manage allergies with better information to make their own decisions- not to a handbook. As a parent of a child with allergies, I’ll tell you I don’t feel as though he’s backed off at all- only worked to strengthen its fidelity to the original goal!
Ultimately, we were misled by an admittedly inaccurate blog that said Carter was doing something that “we” (not me) didn’t like, so “we” criticized him for it. Now, Russo’s blog indicates that Carter had in fact been reaching out to him before the original post, and explicitly states: “I found him to be quite receptive… I want to thank Melvin Carter publicly for taking the time to meet with me personally and to listen to my concerns”… (Of course, we don’t necessarily HAVE to take the blogger’s word for it- we could just pick up a phone and call Melvin directly… NAH!)
Sounds like some pretty good work by two dedicated St. Paulites (Carter and Russo) to find some common ground on an issue they once strongly disagreed on. Again, I sure wish there were more public officials like that! Glad Heartland is staying in St. Paul!
September 15th, 2009 at 7:51 am
But he’s still closing his restaurant like he promised in his last post, right?