Mayor Michael Bloomberg seems like the bigggest killjoy mayor in America. First he wanted to force restaurants to cut down on salt. Now, apparently, he's thinking about ending a cherished tradition:
Happy hour in the city could end if Department of Health policy party-poopers go ahead with a proposal to outlaw beer and booze specials at bars and restaurants, sources told The Post.
[. . .]
Sources said the happy-hour ban is being pushed by the agency’s marathon-running boss, Commissioner Thomas Farley, and is serious enough for one source to say the alcohol lobby had better find itself a good lawyer.
[. . .]
Farley said he aimed to “reduce risky alcohol use,” noting alcohol-related hospitalizations in 2006 were roughly 209 per 100,000 people. His goal was to reduce this number to 170 per 100,000 by this year.
If they really want to cut down on drunken driving, they should just forbid the drinking of alcohol anywhere but in the home, and allow it even there only when there are no plans to go out for, oh, the next 12 hours. At one point in our history, taverns made a lot of sense. They were gathering places for weary travelers journeying by horseback or on foot; what danger was there from a drunken rider? But the instant automobiles came on the scene, serving alcohol in places you have to drive to and from suddenly stopped making sense.
According to the story, 19 states already have happy-hour bans. I'd never heard that before, but it wouldn't surprise me.
