Council Considers Less Regulation
This coming Tuesday morning, the city council is going to discuss dumping two ordinances, Public Dancing Establishments and Hotel Licensing. Besides proposing new or revising existing ordinances, I believe I have a responsibility to propose repealing ordinances that no longer serve the public good and in this case, reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens on businesses.
The Public Dancing Establishments ordinance was adopted in 1922 and has been amended several times over the years, with the last time being in 2009, when I recommended removing a restriction prohibiting dancing on Sundays. Between the fire codes and alcohol laws, there are already plenty of rules covering the safety aspects.
The Hotel Ordinance was adopted in 1908 to assure hotels keep a registry. In today’s business world, they do this anyway. We currently have 18 hotel/motel licenses issued and the city collects 50 cents a room annually. This isn’t a big expense for the hotels, but it is one more piece of paperwork that adds to their regulatory burden.
I’m a big believer in the rule of law and the way I see it, unnecessary or antiquated laws have the net effect of degrading the respect for laws in general, including those that really matter.
You can link to the ordinances here and then click on Title 4-19 for Dancing Establishments and Title 4-17 for Hotels. If you’d like to weigh in, contact a city council member or attend Tuesday’s work session which begins at 8:00 a.m. at the council chambers Tuesday May 8.