Royer said the city is not trying to hurt immigrant store owners. He said he has met with many store owners and has tried to get them to accept the new rules voluntarily for the good of the neighborhood. Most refused, prompting the city to seek to make the booze ban mandatory.
Typical statist reasoning. Not trying to hurt them, just going to enact a law and fine them, throw them in prison and likely seize their stores if they don't comply. That's all. Don't want to hurt them at all...
And God forbid the city take care of the drunk problem by actually doing something about the ****ing drunks instead of everyone who uses cheap alcohol. I'm sure manufactuers of more expensive alcohol, even if they weren't actively involved in the promotion of this, have no objection to the elimination of their cheaper competition in certain areas.
That's what happened the last time the city tried to create a "banned product" list in Pioneer Square in 2003. The liquor board granted only lesser restrictions: halting sales of fortified wines but allowing beer sales to continue — just not in single containers. A recent city report said that approach has not been effective, in part, due to the small size of the Pioneer Square AIA.
Royer and other city officials say the wider ban will prove more successful at dispersing street alcoholics.
Typical again. Didn't work before, therefore we'll do it again on a wider scale. And when this doesn't work they'll widen the scope again, and again, and again... Unless something is done to make street drinkers change their habits all these laws will do is move them to different areas or they will go to different areas, buy their alcohol there and come back. Few if any will change their habits. At the extreme all you'll get is a higher class of drunk because their liquor will be 'better.' And I'm sure if you checked into this you'd probably find, though I would guarantee it, some funding coming from other liquor manufacturers (the unaffected ones) and grocery stores given under the euphamistic end of "cleaing up our streets" or some other such approach. Funds or some other kind of support. Because the elimination of some of their competition will be the end result.
