By Katie Ridgway, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis County Councilman Kurt Odenwald has decided not to pursue the public smoking ban any further.
Tuesday night the County Council voted down the smoking bill 4 to 3. The issue was decided after a three hour meeting with almost 100 people from the community signed up to comment.
Odenwald believes the Council has spoken.
"While I disagree with the four councilmembers who voted that bill down, I respect their votes, I respect their right to do so, and I accept it. I think for me to raise the issue again would only promote further divisiveness and controversy that has gone on for six months," Odenwald said.
He believes it will take a public referendum to make a change.
"So I think an initiative petition and a referendum, whether county-wide or state-wide, is probably a more realistic next step than trying to address this issue through the County Council," Odenwald said.
Many of the dissenters said that the ban would send customers into other counties and create advantages for some businesses over others.