I always find it odd that even the tiniest proposed change in MA liquor laws gets automatically equated with carnage on the highway & pre-Dukakis Happy Hour allowances from 35+ years ago- I've been in other states where you've been get takeout beer/ wine/ liquor for some restaurants/ directly-attached stores that seem to have been able to handle it
They have enough avenues to rob & defraud the state already -- I can see this getting twisted into "raise taxes on cocktails to pay for more cop jobs", continuing the cycle of bloat. Don't have the answer off the top of my head to better DUI enforcement, but it shouldn't be another "throw money at at it" solution.
I want troopers pulling people over for drunk driving and racing, not guarding cones and talking on their phones.
The reason why state troopers are getting away with so much shit is a failure of leadership in the State Police, Governor's office, and Beacon Hill. Laws can be changed. I don't know why politicians fear the state police so much.
The only way to stop DUIs is with enforcement. It's comically easy to get the charges dismissed in this state.
This has been looked at a lot. The real carnage (and it is carnage, pretty much everybody knows someone who's been killed by a drunk driver) is done by repeat offenders who drive very drunk. Lowering the limit from .08 to .06 is kind of a feel-good "See, we're getting tough" bit of legislative theater, but actually getting tough would mean catching and vigorously prosecuting the habitual .10+ drivers and getting them off the road, with no breaks for having once dated the police chief's daughter.
Yeah this. The problem isn't that people who've had a little to drink are regularly killing people, it's that we're not very good at preventing the people who've had a lot to drink from driving at all.
Also I think it turns out that just about the only public policy that has ever had a meaningful impact on drunk driving stats is access to good public transportation (mind you I heard this before ride sharing was a thing so that may have changed the calculus slightly).
How about the sky didn’t fall, so leave it as is? Why even need a “bargain”? People handled it fine, no need for pointless nanny-statism. We’ve proven it.
You can just remove stupid laws without bribing anyone!
The impulses some have to always make some needless display of controlling others…
Restaurants and their workers got slammed for over a year. Let them keep their new rules for at least the rest of 2021. Many invested in outdoor equipment or supplies for drinks to go. Let them more use out of this stuff and let them make some extra money. Many people will not feel comfortable being inside restaurants when they hit full capacity but would be willing to come pick up food and drink to take home to smaller group settings which is exactly what we should be encouraging. GO CONSUME and instead of crowding more into that bar let people self select to remove themselves from the crowds.
Many bars will naturally start cutting back on wanting to offer drinks to go once their bars fill back up as it will always be more lucrative to have the drinker inside the bar than outside so lets let the free market play this one out for a bit.
Any alcohol you buy and take home from a restaurant will be a lot more expensive than if you bought it at a packie. As obsessed as people are with convenience, any drinks sold as take out would not reduce the amount of booze that would be sold at liquor stores. If I want a special beer or mixed drink that a place has, it makes sense that I could take it home. Who am I hurting? Honestly, not the packies. People aren't going to start buying 6 Bud Light's from Unos when they could buy a 12-pack at the store for less money.
When I turned 21 my friends and I took the Harvard Student Agencies bartending course. They came in from out of town, we stayed at a Days Inn with a shuttle bus to the blue line and Rt 1 attractions in Saugus and I borrowed my parents minivan for day trips.
We had a great time, learned so much about how to make drinks and all the glasses. My buddies brother even became a bartender after that! Yet all three nights we decided to hit bars and got mixed drinks on the town instead of staying home and making our own. There's just something more exciting and special when somebody else makes it. So even though we just went through all that trouble to learn how to make them we still chose to hit the town.
One night in Cambridge, one night in Downtown Boston and the last night we took the full drinking tour of Rt. 1 Saugus when the shuttle bus driver who was taking us to the blue line told us he could pick us up and drop us off anywhere on Rt. 1. We hit up Kowloon's for Fog Cutters, ended up at Hill Top for frozen grasshoppers where we were the only patrons and the bartender gave us pretty much a free forty five minute extra course on bartending when she found out what we were up to that weekend. Over looking the plastic cows, we were all a bit tipsy but my buddies brother was taking notes on a cocktail napkin as she put on her master course of the craft.
I can never seem to get those drinks right. I always just end up pouring dark spices rum into a glass of ginger beer and ice and call it a day. There's something about the nuance a good bartender brings that is undeniable.
Let’s not lose some of the advances and conveniences that were necessitated by covid. More street festival type seating. More pedestrian friendly plazas. More cocktail delivery. Curbside takeout pick up.
These things are convenient, well loved, and make the city more livable. You can do it, politicians.
It seems that a lot of things that have happened in the last year--longer outdoor dining, takeout cocktails, virtual public meetings--are good things to keep permanently.
Comments
Grand Bargin
Make this regulation permanent law along with all the other pandemic related restaurant legal changes. (Outdoor dining, etc.)
In exchange, tighten drunk driving laws and put a sizable group of troupers into units that specifically target drunk driving.
Troupers?
Don't we already have enough bad actors in the State Police?
I always find it odd that
I always find it odd that even the tiniest proposed change in MA liquor laws gets automatically equated with carnage on the highway & pre-Dukakis Happy Hour allowances from 35+ years ago- I've been in other states where you've been get takeout beer/ wine/ liquor for some restaurants/ directly-attached stores that seem to have been able to handle it
The last thing we need is more state troopers
They have enough avenues to rob & defraud the state already -- I can see this getting twisted into "raise taxes on cocktails to pay for more cop jobs", continuing the cycle of bloat. Don't have the answer off the top of my head to better DUI enforcement, but it shouldn't be another "throw money at at it" solution.
No, better leadership
I want troopers pulling people over for drunk driving and racing, not guarding cones and talking on their phones.
The reason why state troopers are getting away with so much shit is a failure of leadership in the State Police, Governor's office, and Beacon Hill. Laws can be changed. I don't know why politicians fear the state police so much.
The only way to stop DUIs is with enforcement. It's comically easy to get the charges dismissed in this state.
Better idea
Decrease the limit to 0.06.
Change the penalties for reckless driving to match so plea deals are less attractive.
Jail repeat offenders.
I fully agree
But without without cops enforcing these things it hardly matters what the limits and penalties are.
Reducing the limit doesn't fix the real problem
This has been looked at a lot. The real carnage (and it is carnage, pretty much everybody knows someone who's been killed by a drunk driver) is done by repeat offenders who drive very drunk. Lowering the limit from .08 to .06 is kind of a feel-good "See, we're getting tough" bit of legislative theater, but actually getting tough would mean catching and vigorously prosecuting the habitual .10+ drivers and getting them off the road, with no breaks for having once dated the police chief's daughter.
Some data here, more here and there https://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/rpt/2002-r-0516.htm
Yeah this. The problem isn't
Yeah this. The problem isn't that people who've had a little to drink are regularly killing people, it's that we're not very good at preventing the people who've had a lot to drink from driving at all.
Also I think it turns out that just about the only public policy that has ever had a meaningful impact on drunk driving stats is access to good public transportation (mind you I heard this before ride sharing was a thing so that may have changed the calculus slightly).
Or…
How about the sky didn’t fall, so leave it as is? Why even need a “bargain”? People handled it fine, no need for pointless nanny-statism. We’ve proven it.
You can just remove stupid laws without bribing anyone!
The impulses some have to always make some needless display of controlling others…
Restaurants and their workers
Restaurants and their workers got slammed for over a year. Let them keep their new rules for at least the rest of 2021. Many invested in outdoor equipment or supplies for drinks to go. Let them more use out of this stuff and let them make some extra money. Many people will not feel comfortable being inside restaurants when they hit full capacity but would be willing to come pick up food and drink to take home to smaller group settings which is exactly what we should be encouraging. GO CONSUME and instead of crowding more into that bar let people self select to remove themselves from the crowds.
Many bars will naturally start cutting back on wanting to offer drinks to go once their bars fill back up as it will always be more lucrative to have the drinker inside the bar than outside so lets let the free market play this one out for a bit.
There's no reason not to allow it
Any alcohol you buy and take home from a restaurant will be a lot more expensive than if you bought it at a packie. As obsessed as people are with convenience, any drinks sold as take out would not reduce the amount of booze that would be sold at liquor stores. If I want a special beer or mixed drink that a place has, it makes sense that I could take it home. Who am I hurting? Honestly, not the packies. People aren't going to start buying 6 Bud Light's from Unos when they could buy a 12-pack at the store for less money.
Reverse engineering
My son does takeout drinks so he can figure out how to make his favorites at home.
I do that by asking the bartender
Many of them love to teach their craft.
When I turned 21 my friends
When I turned 21 my friends and I took the Harvard Student Agencies bartending course. They came in from out of town, we stayed at a Days Inn with a shuttle bus to the blue line and Rt 1 attractions in Saugus and I borrowed my parents minivan for day trips.
We had a great time, learned so much about how to make drinks and all the glasses. My buddies brother even became a bartender after that! Yet all three nights we decided to hit bars and got mixed drinks on the town instead of staying home and making our own. There's just something more exciting and special when somebody else makes it. So even though we just went through all that trouble to learn how to make them we still chose to hit the town.
One night in Cambridge, one night in Downtown Boston and the last night we took the full drinking tour of Rt. 1 Saugus when the shuttle bus driver who was taking us to the blue line told us he could pick us up and drop us off anywhere on Rt. 1. We hit up Kowloon's for Fog Cutters, ended up at Hill Top for frozen grasshoppers where we were the only patrons and the bartender gave us pretty much a free forty five minute extra course on bartending when she found out what we were up to that weekend. Over looking the plastic cows, we were all a bit tipsy but my buddies brother was taking notes on a cocktail napkin as she put on her master course of the craft.
I can never seem to get those drinks right. I always just end up pouring dark spices rum into a glass of ginger beer and ice and call it a day. There's something about the nuance a good bartender brings that is undeniable.
This is a great idea.
Let’s not lose some of the advances and conveniences that were necessitated by covid. More street festival type seating. More pedestrian friendly plazas. More cocktail delivery. Curbside takeout pick up.
These things are convenient, well loved, and make the city more livable. You can do it, politicians.
Covid experiments
It seems that a lot of things that have happened in the last year--longer outdoor dining, takeout cocktails, virtual public meetings--are good things to keep permanently.