Let there be light… unless you’re doing business in city limits

Caught in the sights of environmentalists is now (actually has been for a while) the one thing that started everything – Light. God called it into being and Jesus embodied it in this world. By tagging industrially generated light as ‘pollution,’ nature worshipers have revealed their true stygian color, in reverence for darkness. (As an aside, addressing the subject of light also may be appropriate as Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is celebrated, where the affect of His light was expanded from shining upon the earth to also shine through believers.) Back to business… Among the instances where artificial light is now banished is Asheville, North Carolina’s business district. Evidently, tripping over bistro tables, tree roots or buckling sidewalks is preferable to interfering with a dozen stargazers straining to view the night sky. Up until now, potential astronomers raised in a metropolitan area understood that, in order to best observe celestial bodies, travel outside of city limits went with the territory. Street corners weren’t optimal for that particular pastime. In Asheville, however, the clueless city council has sided with the miniscule minority, crippling restaurants and bars by stripping outside seating of adequate light for patrons to guide their forks to stab steaks on the plate in front of them. The statute is so foolish as to place the city in the situation of actually creating a health hazard and impeding commerce by denying enough illumination for normal business practices. For developers, restaurateurs and merchants whose commerce is constrained by unreasonable statutes and ordinances, they don’t have to be content with just voicing their displeasure before the city fathers (or mothers, for the PC crowd), they can file claims for damages. Each government entity has a different process but the requirement exists to supply an administrative procedure for damaged parties. In a case such as this, hamstringing a business’ ability to operate within customary and reasonable latitude by instituting a restrictive, arbitrary and potentially dangerous ordinance is fair game. This is a circumstance where a small special interest group does not have superior rights to business owners. A commercial district is established for commercial purposes, not to make the Milky Way visible to a few astronomy buffs.

The flipside of this absurdity is the question of revenue. The city has two options: 1) encouraging commerce by allowing proper and safe lighting for outdoor seating, upon which the business makes more money that, in turn, creates more tax revenue; or 2) the city forces the business to lose potential income by restricting outdoor activity or forces the business to pay fines if they don’t meet the strict requirements of the ordinance. Either way, Option 2 leads to less revenue for the city by losing collectible taxes and probable closure of the business altogether. These are the same options that deplete tax revenue in cities like Seattle where they’ve mandated minimum wage hikes, driving restaurants to dismiss employees and even being shuttered. We used to call this cutting off your nose to spite your face. Same principle, same result – loss of revenue for both the business and the city. It’s about time government entities of all sizes came to grips with the fact that they are destroying their own revenue stream to placate a few self-serving squeaky wheels. March For Our Lives crowd should take note. This concept applies to the expectation that the Second Amendment can or should be repealed. The backlash could kill more than the economy.