Thursday, December 10, 2009  Congratulations to Baba D's  When
Toby Keith and whoever has enough money can open a bar on the
South Side, then you knew Bruce Kraus's stop-gap measure of a
"saturation limit" on bars in the South Side wasn't going to fly
in the courts. This was proved yesterday by the Allegheny Court
of Common Pleas.  Judge James found that the ordinance was
illegal because the city can't create special rules for bars.
The city law was "an infringement on the power of the [state]
Liquor Control Board and is invalid" becasue state law reserves
most power to regulate alcohol for that agency.  I completely
understand why the "saturation limit" was imposed. People that
live on the South Side Flats were sick and tired of people
pissing on their lawns and leaving broken bottles everywhere.
But the stop-gap measure was not the solution. All limiting the
number of bars did was make it more expensive and difficult to
get a liquor license. It did not increase the number of toilets
on the South Side. It d