How Free Are We? Part Three

Third in a series, after a long break. Having just returned from vacation, I have a lot to blog about, so I am going to keep this post short. I ask you to read this article in the Post-Dispatch about proposed restaurant outdoor seating legislation in St. Charles County, and think to yourself just how nuts it is that something as simple as a restaurant serving food and drinks outside requires this much work and effort from government. Maybe I’m crazy here, but the never-ending expansion of planning and zoning requirements strikes me as lunacy. Yet we all accept it in the name of standardizing services and regulating all aspects of life.

I just want to highlight the comments of one control-freak busybody in the article (emphasis added):

Last week, Veit modified his bill to impose a closing time for sidewalk
tables of 11 p.m. or 30 minutes after the end of food service,
whichever is earlier.

Dan Satterfield, who lives on South Main, said that wasn’t early enough. He suggested 10 p.m.

He said his concerns were about people who were exclusively drinking, and not having dinner.

"Drinks that can be served outside during dinner — there’s no opposition to that," he said.

God forbid you just want to have a drink outside at night right along the wall of a restaurant. We certainly can’t have that, now …