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Lil Pimp 
Group: Members
Posts: 62
Joined: Oct. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 16 2004,5:55 pm |
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There has been a lot of discussion around here about a businesses rights (regarding smoking) with most people saying gov't should keep their nose out of the a businesses business. I would tend to agree.
How about this twist?
Last night the Mankato City Council heard ideas about restricting the type of specials bars could run.
This stems from a problem that some bar owners have with other bar owners promoting the all-you-can-drink specials. Any day of the week (except Sunday I think?), you can find a bar in Mankato charging you anywhere from $4-$5 at the door for all you can drink. Years ago this started with 1 bar, then 2 now there are probably 6-7 doing this.
The city is proposing restricting these specials to between 11:00AM-11:00PM, forcing bars who run these specials to hire more security and to alert the Dep't of Public Safety when these specials are being ran.
I have 2 problems with this.
#1 - Why is this such a problem? There have been no serious issues related to this type of promotion. There is not a public outcry about this, actually I know of some people who really like it, it is a pretty good deal for the consumer. And in reality, this is a college town, college kids like to visit bars and you can't legislate morality. The reason it is a problem is because certain bars feel like they can not compete with these specials. How can an Applebees or TGIF's compete with $5 all you can drink? They can't. But then again, how can a local hole in the wall bar compete with a national chain? They can't.
#2 - One of the biggest voices in favor of restricting bars is a councilman named Joe Frederick. Mr. Frederick just happens to own a bar (BW3) in the downtown bar district. BW3 does not have these types of specials so of course Mr. Frederick would be in favor to limiting their use. Does something smell funny here? Can you say conflict of interest?
What do you say? Too much gov't meddling or not???
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MrTarzan
Group: Members
Posts: 564
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 16 2004,9:49 pm |
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Too much. Way too much.
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Be not simply good, be good for something-Henry David Thoreau
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irisheyes
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 3040
Joined: Oct. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 17 2004,11:58 am |
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What a joke, do they want to live in a capitalist economy or not. If you can't beat the other guy, move somewhere else, or sell the bar and get a job at UPS! Mr. Frederick should abstain from voting on this issue due to a conflict of interest.
Why stop with this, maybe some of the other bar owners should complain about how Mr. Frederick's "happy hour" is an unfair advantage, and is hurting their business.
It used to be that when kids had a lemonade stand and the kids on the next block were beating them, they either make better lemonade, or lower prices. To quote repdan's signature line, "a child of five can understand this, someone fetch a child of five"-Groucho Marx.
Pretty soon these kids will start learning from their elders, they'll complain the other kids have an unfair advantage, or make an annonymous call that their selling lemonade without a temporary food/beverage permit. 
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You know it's going to be a bad day when you cross thread the cap on the toothpaste.
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