Some Anne Arundel County bars will be open until 3AM on inauguration day. Bar owners will be charged a $200 fee by the AA county liquor board if they wish to participate in the extended drinking hours. I think this is a great way to raise money for AA county and to generate revenue for the local economy. Look how fast our public servants passed the bill that allowed the extended hours:
"The General Assembly acted with rare speed to get the bill passed in time, illustrating how fast the legislature can move when necessary. Lawmakers convened Wednesday to start the 90-day session. The House of Delegates approved the bill on a 130-5 vote. The Senate voted 42-1 in favor."
So if it was this simple to extend drinking hours in AA county then how hard would have it been to do the same in Baltimore city? On election night bars were rocking all over town and there is no doubt in my mind that they will be rocking again this Tuesday night. An extra hour would be a marketing tool for a lot of local bars I am familiar with in Baltimore. I have said it before and I will say it again: we need to get creative when it comes to new revenue sources for the state and city. Extending drinking hours until 3AM or 4AM in non-residential areas would be a fun way to do this. This week's example in AA county shows that we can pass the laws quickly to make extended hours a reality and that it can be something that could at first be tried on an experimental basis. You could designate a few weekends this Spring as 4AM weekends and charge bars $200 or more a night for the privilege of staying open until 4AM those nights. If everything runs smoothly and bars still want to participate then the program could be expanded to be a seasonal or year round thing. I think tourists would enjoy extended drinking hours more than a hotel room tax.
Comments
The idea seems sound but once again the little guy will get the shaft. $200.00 for one hour? Did you stop to think how many drinks a bar would have to sell to make $200. Sure, the mega bars and franchised restaurants will be able to afford it. I owned a bar for over thirty years and the last thing I would want to do is to spend $200 for an hour of serving drinkss to patrons who most likley are just about done drinking anyway. Why wouldn't the increased sales tax on drinks sold be enough money for the government who spent zero dollars to collect 200 an hour
Gary - than simply don't spend it.
So setum-up joe, I gotta little story to tell ya! I'll go out and get sauced after all this overspending. Have they paid any money to anybody to keep from getting their house taken, without all those forms you have to fill out. Guess what I'm not talking about those people who took out those ridiculos loans, no I am talking about people who are losing their homes due to high energy cost, high property taxes, upwardly adjusted credit card interest rates.
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