Privately owned grocery stores, selling groceries for money, are a vital part of the system by which humans live within Oregon. They provide necessary services in response to the needs of the state’s residents, tourists and business representatives from outside the state.
Therefore the safety and reliability of such stores and the economic well-being and stability of their owners and operators are a matter of public concern.
The regulation of such businesses is an essential government function.
The city should begin licensing grocery stores. Of course, it can grant an exception to those that exist already inside the Sweet Home city limits.
But wait, there’s more.
The same can be said of fast food joints.
Let’s not forget the tremendous importance of the movie theater and DVD rental shop.
Then there’s the logging outfits. They’re incredibly important to our economy and of public interest.
So are the coffee stands and the second-hand shops. So is tire store, and so are the various mechanics.
Some would even argue newspapers are essential to our society.
Convenience stores also provide necessary services.
By the same token, the good man who runs my favorite sporting goods store is essential all by himself – not to mention his incredibly important business.
We need to license his right to exist along with his business. He can pay a small fee and ask the city to consider whether to grant him the license.
Then we can have the city attorney review his bank statements to make sure the proprietor and his store are economically viable enough to continue to exist. If they’re not, the city can deny the license, close his store and send him out of town.
Yes, even individuals are important to the economy and society. Failure to control them could result in unacceptable breakdowns in both.
That’s how the city handles taxis.
Our City Council is considering an update to its taxi ordinance. It should consider abolishing it entirely.
Taxi regulations are literally the economics textbook example of artificial barriers to entry into a market, just one of those anti-free market, anti-liberty things that help ensure the poor stay poor and the wealthy get wealthier. They get in the way of a transaction between consenting adults. It is not the city’s business nor mine if you choose to hire someone to drive you to the store – speaking of which, what happens if someone pays me $5 for fuel for a ride from Circle K in the middle of the night.
While the fee is not as dramatic as New York City’s, which is the textbook city, and is certainly no fund-raising tool for the city, it’s still unnecessary.
It allows a committee to decide the economic viability of a taxi service, who gets to try and who doesn’t. The council has done a lousy job of it so far anyway. Every taxi that’s started up in Sweet Home and received approval from the central economic planning committee (that’s the council), has closed down. Honestly, the council hasn’t really stood in the way, and it should be applauded for that.
It’s really on the operator to figure out a way to build a viable business, just like anything else.
Yes, other markets are regulated, some highly, some less, by other jurisdictions; but the wrongs of another are no reason for our city to do so.
Our council could set an example and commitment to liberty, respecting transactions among consenting adults.