Bunten told the council that Police Chief Ron Miller suggested the idea. The mayor says other cities have reduced crime with similar bans and outlawing the clothing would be good for Topeka. "Anything we can do to lower crime and make it safer for people who work in businesses, I think that's a positive," he told the Council.
Local media, however, didn't have a hard time finding people who thought the idea sucked. One downtown business owner told KSNT-TV, "Seems very socialist, very communist. I think we would lose a lot of customers over this. I know that in a downtown area, unlike a mall, when you have on your outdoor attire you're not going to leave it in the car." And The Capital-Journal quoted council member Andrew Gray as saying, "Ironically, I wore a hoodie all day today at work."
The best input on the ban came from the mayor himself. "I wouldn't have a quarrel with it. Now, I don't have a hoodie and I don't have a ball cap, but if I did I'd take it off. Most people take their hats off when they go into a store anyway. Well, they used to," he told the council. Would you expect anything else from a man who once said he was "too old" to support a domestic partnership registry?
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