Skip to main content

Hooters Plan is Defended, Criticized




FLORISSANT

Hooters Plan is Defended, Criticized
'Harmful Messages,' Traffic Risk
Balanced Against Economic Gain


By Tanya Parker, Post-Dispatch Special Correspondent
The Florissant City Council listened Monday night to impassioned arguments on both sides of a proposal for Hooters, a restaurant planned in the Florissant Oaks Shopping Center at Lindbergh Boulevard and Patterson Road.

Opponents in the standing-room-only crowd at the council meeting said that waitresses at Hooters wore scanty clothing and were hired because of their appearance.

Harold Hendrick, a talk-show host on KSIV Radio, represented the Florissant Citizen League at the meeting and urged the council to oppose discrimination against women "who have the wrong dimensions and the wrong appearance."

Elizabeth Perkins, a resident of Florissant, said that Hooters sent harmful "messages to our society about women. Other people said they were worried about customers of Hooters who would drink there, then drive on Patterson Road, which also is used by pedestrians. Some said
that Hooters would detract from the standards of the Florissant business district.

Residents in favor of Hooters said the restaurant would be a boost to the business district and an economic boost for Florissant. They say the shopping center has many vacant buildings and would be helped by the restaurant.

Anene Tressler-Hauschultz, executive director for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, said Hooters was a business that "gives back to the community." She said Hooters had helped diabetes research.

Hooters applied for a permit for the restaurant in July of this year, and the permit was recommended by the Planning and Zoning Committee in August. The committee said it
recommended the permit after evaluating the effect that it would have on the value of adjacent property and on the residents and businesses of Florissant.


photohoot.jpg



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Canton Residents Want Sreet Blocked

ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1995 UNIVERSITY CITY Canton Residents Want Street Blocked By Tanya Parker, Post-Dispatch Special Correspondent Twelve years ago a child riding a bike in the 7400 block of Canton Avenue in University City was killed by a speeding car. Today residents on the same block are asking if it will take a similar tragedy before the Traffic Commission will recommend closing their street to through traffic. The Traffic Commission said the residents would need to seek a consensus with residents living on streets adjacent to Canton. Those would include Harrison, Lamb, Wayne and Lynne streets. Carrie Costantin, Traffic Commission chairwoman, added that if a street was closed it would create excessive traffic on the other streets. Also, she said, the fire and police departments strongly oppose the request to block the street because it would hamper their accessibility to the street. The residents countered that police and fire officials co...

Security Alarm in Rock Hill

ROCK HILL Alarm Works Well —Too Well, Says Owner By Tanya Parker Post-Dispatch Special Correspondent Frank Maridles, who operates a small business in Rock Hill, recently put in a new security alarm system, only to have it accidentally trip 12 times. Facing $800 in fines, he carne to the Board of Aldermen to appeal what he considers an exorbitant penalty for false alarms. Marides' request coincided with a financial report from Alderman Brad-ford L. Stevens, 3rd Ward, head of the finance committee for Rock Hill. Stevens reported that fines from false alarms had become an unexpected source of revenue for Rock Hill. He said the fines were meant to deter false alarms, not make money. Rock Hill waives the first two false alarms, then charges a fine ranging from $25 to $100. The ordinance applies to both residents and business owners. Stevens said false alarms had increased to 280 incidents in the past year, when residents or employees were in the buildings. Mayor Kenna...