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Lynne Breaux to Step Down from Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington


dcs

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One can only speculate as to how many people's lives have been negatively impacted by McDonald's super sized extra value meal.

NYC has a push to limit the size container that soda can be sold in. Yes, other peoples decisions affect our lives every day because well, most of us don't live in a bubble.

Personally, I was all for the smoking ban, and did share my opinion in a public forum on the subject.

Not sure that disagreeing with someone's position necessitates disparaging remarks about them.

Many months ago we had the issue of parking downtown, which resulted in the parking rates/times being adjusted. There were industry people that criticized her and RAMW for letting the meter rates/times change. I remember a conversation I had with Lynne about the issue and how hard they tried and failed to stop the city. We talked for quite a while, and I remember thinking to myself, sadly, that's our industry. Didn't get the result we wanted = Didn't try. Of course we all know that sometimes no matter how hard you try you still don't get the result you want. I want everything I cook to be perfect but it's not.

My point is that it's a tough industry to represent. It's a tough industry to be a part of. Everyone has an opinion, everyone wants to be a critic, you can never do enough. I didn't agree with the push to allow smoking either, as I'm not a smoker and don't enjoy being around it. I didn't agree with the city raising the parking rates and pushing back the time limits, as I don't typically walking around with several dollars of quarters in my pocket. I enjoyed being around Lynne, I enjoyed talking to her, I valued her opinions and insights. I'm sorry to see her go.

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Eric, Thank you for the thoughtful addition. And you're right. I have no doubt there were many issues that she tackled on behalf of DC restaurants and did so for the true benefit of restaurant business and clientele. But unlike you and those who know her and her work, I'm not familiar with those things. From where I sit, she was and always will remain the poster child for a hare-brained effort to ensure that cigarette smoke can freely flow through dining rooms. Unlike people who choose to supersize their meal, those who light up in a restaurant damage the health and atmosphere for everyone around them. You and I simply see her from differing vantage points.

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Agreed.

....and now going off on a tangent. As someone needing to manage a restaurants position a lot of people I knew were all for the ban because strictly operationally speaking it took the decision of being smoke free or not out of our hands. As it was going you were in sort of a damned if you do damned if you don't spot.

As the bigger part of getting off topic goes, I was in California as I believe they were one of the firsts to start passing laws against smoking. The original argument for the ban was not based on you the restaurant patron but was actually positioned as "protecting the employees." Pending how old you are, you may remember that back in the day restaurants, airplanes, and a lot of other places had smoking sections. Now while those had already become a thing of the past, by staking their position in this way you could avoid the argument that you the customer could theoretically choose to sit somewhere else or go somewhere else if you didn't want to be around cigarette smoke. The employees didn't have the choice, and it was the employees health that needed to be protected.

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