Loved this quote in an article about how Poops changed the liquor license process to highest bidder;
“While we are excited to be able to move forward with our business plans, the costs incurred simply to have the ability to serve liquor is a massive financial strain,” De Jong said.
“A great city is made of great small businesses, and that includes bars. The current sealed bid process is not small-business friendly, and I’m afraid that’s going to impact the type of establishments we see opening in the future.”
He said he’d like to see the city move back to a waitlist model “but with more vetting and stricter regulations on usage and resell” while discouraging bidders who ultimately don’t intend to open an establishment and see the license as an opportunity for resale.
I have said all along we need to get rid of permanent liquor licenses that are bought and sold on the free market like booty prizes and do a yearly licensing fee. But the morons in Pierre will never figure this out.
This local liquor license change by our fine city was a racist decision. It discriminates against the creation of local establishments in poorer neighborhoods where people of color are more likely to be found as owners and patrons.
Liquor licenses also allow some to have a fiefdom, which should not be allowed in a modern society. Your should be allowed to buy one as a part of a waiting list, but after “x” amount of months of being dormant it should become obsolete, and thus made available to the next person on the list. If you can’t sell your vote, then why can you sell your liquor license; especially a license that ends up causing quite often so much trouble for society overall.