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Attachment A Regular City Council Meeting Monday, January 11, 2021 Page 10 402 to support the Ordinance to clear the market of flavored and menthol tobacco 403 products and to help improve the health of all residents of Roseville. 404 405 Ms. Joan Bulfer, 3030 Chatsworth Street, Roseville 406 Ms. Bulfer indicated she was in support of the ban on all flavored tobacco prod- 407 ucts in Roseville. She explained this is an important next step in protecting the 408 community from tobacco use and addiction. She stated as a public health official, 409 she testified during the hearing on passing T21 and she congratulated the Council 410 for taking the action on that ordinance. She noted the Council will be continuing 411 the work of RosevilleÓs community aspirations, to be physically, mentally active 412 in a healthy community. Banning flavored tobacco products addresses Rose- 413 villeÓs racial equity statement. She explained she was very proud that Roseville 414 has taken a stand on racial equity and supporting its African American residents 415 after the killing of George Floyd. Now is the opportunity to apply the same lens 416 to the tobacco issue. The tobacco industry has deliberately and consistently chan- 417 neled menthol products into the African American communities at a much higher 418 rate than among white population. The time is now to unite against an industry 419 that has profited off addiction and disease disproportionately borne by African 420 AmericanÓs and other communities of color that are targeted. She was asking the 421 City Council to step up and vote to pass the ban that would not only protect the 422 youth but also the communities of color from blatant targeting by the tobacco in- 423 dustry. She noted as a community that cares greatly about its youth, she urged the 424 City Council to vote yes to the ordinance. 425 426 Mr. Andrew Showalter, Fridley 427 Mr. Showalter stated his family has operated convenience stores in Roseville 428 since 1973 and operated at their current location since 1984. He explained he has 429 seen cities in the Twin Cities already passing these bans turn profitable stores that 430 support families like his into unprofitable businesses that are closing. He stated 431 most teens are receiving their tobacco from friends or other teens as most people 432 under 21 knows someone that is 21. Even though it might be a hassle for an indi- 433 vidual to travel to another city, it would not be much if you were selling to multi- 434 ple other teenagers. He noted that people can also order these tobacco products 435 online and even though they are supposed to check your ID, no one he has talked 436 to that has ordered online has ever had to present their ID to a delivery person. 437 He thought that any ordinance of this kind would hurt small businesses much 438 more than it would cut into teen tobacco use. He stated the City should at least be 439 targeting the products that teens actually use. Wintergreen is a flavor mainly used 440 by middle aged men and is rarely used by young adults. Menthol is used across 441 all ages and vape is mainly used by young adults and teens so he wondered why 442 the City is considering banning products that are rarely used by young people in- 443 stead of vaping products that are the overwhelming choice of the majority of 444 young tobacco users. He stated convenience stores sell very few of these vaping 445 products that young people use but do sell flavored products used by long-time 446 tobacco users. At most, only a few vaping pods are sold a week so limiting the