The Connecticut wine war and the price we should not have to pay
Connecticut never suffers a shortage of bad ideas when the legislature is in session.
One legislator wants bars in nine cities and towns and two casinos to be able to serve customers alcohol until 4 a.m. The state’s package stores are being shelled by grocery stores who want the right to sell wine to their customers.
The booze wars have resumed at the State Capitol.
Sensible lawmakers are not immune from mad law disease. State Rep. Chris Rosario is at it again. The Bridgeport Democrat is the determined legislator with the wish that will not go away. Rosario told the Courant’s Chris Keating that the coronavirus has inflicted “a detrimental and devastating impact” on bars and restaurants. Rosario proposes bars and restaurants that serve alcohol in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, New London, Danbury, Stamford, Norwalk, Waterbury, West Hartford, as well as the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, be allowed to keep pouring drinks for customers for three more hours on weekdays than they do now and two additional ones on weekends.
New York and Massachusetts, Rosario points out, allow last call at 4 a.m. That includes Springfield’s MGM casino — a facility that continues to cause unreasonable fears of ruination in Connecticut politicians. We do not have to embrace our neighbors’ bad policies.
Some nearly drunk and drunk drivers — as well as still sober ones — would leave bars in the state’s 160 towns with earlier closings, driving to a bar where they can drink until 4 a.m. Hours later some of them will be on the road.
“The hollow hour. Blank, empty. The very pit of all other hours. No one feels good at four in the morning.” Wislawa Szymborska was not a Nobel Laureate poet by chance. Four in the morning is no time for last call.
The wine war will see more resources mobilized in a classic legislative contest over who gets to occupy what turf. Grocery stores are permitted to sell beer to customers 21 and over during certain hours. Package stores are licensed to sell wine, beer spirits and other alcohol-laden concoctions in colorful containers. Grocery stores are making a grab for some of the wine market.
States regulate the sale of alcohol for vital reasons. Alcohol possesses the power to alter the way we function. Connecticut
was one of two states (Rhode Island was the other one) that did not ratify the 18th amendment that prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol. It was the 12th state to vote to repeal it 14 years later with the 21st amendment in 1933.
We are sensible people in balancing free will and the misery that can accompany the consumption of alcohol. For retail sales — except for beer — we have a system of limited licenses and strict regulation of liquor stores. There’s a cap on the number of licenses that may be issued in each city and town. Local zoning
The Connecticut State Universities empower residents to reach their full potential, they provide a clear path toward mobility, they reduce inequity and inequality, and they contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of our shared communities and state. Now is the time to strengthen and expand the affordability, accessibility, and excellence of the CSUs. Now is the time to make a firm commitment to invest in the CSUs, to open minds and doors for everyone in Connecticut, and build a better future for our state.