Editorial: Let’s Raise a Glass to Less Liquor Regulation!

Minot has a problem. If you haven’t noticed, downtown Minot is being overrun by new restaurants. What’s even worse, many of these new restaurants are moving into old, rundown buildings and improving them; the gall it must take. And what’s more, these new restaurants are creating innovative menus that include items that aren’t cheeseburgers. It must be stopped. This cannot be allowed to continue.

Thankfully, our elected leaders on the Liquor and Gambling Committee are already on the case, and on Monday we’ll have the full City Council weighing our options. Hopefully, they act decisively and put an end to this abhorrent behavior.

Did you feel that? We were aiming for palpable sarcasm.

Here’s what we really think.

Somehow, someway, and in spite of our best efforts, our little city stumbled bass-ackwards into a restaurant climate that encouraged both investment and innovation. That’s right folks — while we’ve been busy attracting new manufacturing businesses, we managed to ignore the bar and restaurant business just enough that it’s starting to become successful.

So on this Easter Sunday, you’ve got a job. Call your Alderman and let them know that you’re happy with what they haven’t been doing. In fact, let them know you’re so pleased with their non-performance, you’d like them to do less of it.

If only we’d open our eyes — the recipe for success is right in front of us. Minot doesn’t need new regulations for superclubs; we need relaxed regulations for liquor licenses. The decades-old protectionist system that has kept the number of liquor licenses capped has been stifling investment — let’s form a new committee and get rid of it!