Sunday, January 4, 2009

Alcohol workshop

The town council in their December workshop talked about the need for a special workshop for the issue of alcohol. They tentatively planned it for late January. Sadly because it is a workshop I cannot comment "why the hell is that needed?" and not get thrown out...but maybe it would be worth it this one time.

The first hot issue for me is the requirement that people who own the shops be local residents. Why? Give me a damn good reason why or else don't add that one. Do out of towners smell funny? Sorry La Vergne but your BO is bad? Is this requirement added to all businesses that Smyrna regulates or is it just to ones that are lucrative and money makers? Is alcohol so bad we should should require that out of towners own the businesses to keep our residents pure and clean?

The next is the arbitrary number of 10,000 residents per single store. Why 10,000? Why not 8,398 or 11,491. The one store to every 10,000 people is totally against the free market. A town should have enough stores to meet the need and if there are too many stores then a lack of profit runs some out. The supply grows to meet the need. Basic economics. The market should decide the number, not a government body.

I plan to sit back and enjoy this process with much more glee then I should. I also plan on having more then a few columns on this subject online and in print.

3 comments:

David The Good said...

Actually, giving the town a short speech on the free market might be a bloody good idea.

If there are too many stores, some will go under. Too few, and more will be built.

And if the town turns Muslim, all the stores disappear. It's simple.

Anonymous said...

Gunner
I susject the reason behide the residency rule is to stick it to the two gents that worked to get the bill passed. One lives in Memphis and the other lives in Chapel Hill. But than I see black helicopters too.
Gerry H

Anonymous said...

Gunner
I susject the reason behide the residency rule is to stick it to the two gents that worked to get the bill passed. One lives in Memphis and the other lives in Chapel Hill. But than I see black helicopters too.
Gerry H