Today’s front page news is a victory — the first in what we hope will be a series of wins for the Twin Cities and the entire Empire State when it comes to liquor laws.
The state Liquor Authority has reversed its wrong-headed decision and restored beer permits to vendors at Gateway Harbor Park for the popular free concerts held there, which had been canceled when the beer sales were halted.
Underage drinking is a serious matter, but a single violation shouldn’t sink an entire concert attended by tens of thousands each week. From the onset, we’ve called these decisions arbitrary and unduly harsh. We’ve questioned the motives and called for this very reversal.
We are as happy as anyone to report the news of the SLA’s decision, but it only answers one of the many questions we and every fan of music — and economic progress — have about why this happened in the first place.
The SLA’s reversal solves the most immediate problem, but it does not address the overarching concerns about the entire process that have become obvious as a result of this whole ordeal.
What we have in New York is an unelected, unsupervised authority, bound only by its own discretion, possessing the power to make and enforce regulations over the sale of alcohol.
The situation cries out for legislative guidance.
It is the job of elected lawmakers — assemblymen and state senators — to craft a uniform statute addressing underage drinking and other liquor sales violations. We urge them to undertake this process immediately.
Some, like state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, have questioned the need for the Liquor Authority to exist at all. We’re not sure we agree with that sweeping change, but it should be a part of the conversation as the state moves forward and undertakes a review of New York’s liquor regulations and their enforcement.
What is needed is clear leadership from New York’s legislative branch on the necessary and prudent regulations for alcohol sale and consumption — and even more importantly, the punishments for violating them.
If the SLA is the enforcement agency, that’s fine — but it shouldn’t be the sole judge, jury and executioner.
As for here in North Tonawanda, the SLA still must come clean about what mistakes were made — and at who’s urging they were made. Business owners who’ve suffered from this deserve an explanation. Local officials who’ve had to divert the public’s time and resources to addressing this matter deserve an explanation. Every taxpayer in the Twin Cities deserves an explanation.
In short, there’s no shortage of explaining left to do.
Editorials
OUR VIEW: SLA permit reversal is only the first step
- Editorials
-
- Give chicken plan free range
-
Scale back Canal Fest hours
A decision Tuesday by the Tonawanda Common Council to require daily Canal Fest operations on the south side of the canal to conclude by 10 p.m., rather than 11, apparently isn’t sitting well with Canal Fest organizers, who have yet to agree to the change.
-
OUR VIEW: Kudos to Slaughter on STOCK Act
Rep. Louise Slaughter and a small band of colleagues in the House of Representatives deserve praise for their determination in putting a stop to a long-standing dirty secret in politics — that members of Congress have been making a boatload of cash by parlaying their official knowledge of the nation’s affairs into private fortunes on the stock market.
-
OUR VIEW: Time to fundamentally rethink education
In the three school districts primarily composing the Tonawandas we are seeing, in varying degrees, the beginning of the end of education here as we know it.
-
OUR VIEW: Super job by Bills on signing Williams
More than the Xs and Os of a football playbook, the Mario Williams signing is a generation-in-the-waiting signal that this franchise is finally on the right track.
-
OUR VIEW: WNY must build on success at ECC
In reading Sunday’s cover story by reporter Jill Keppeler, readers probably shared our shock in the success story that is the Erie Community College industrial technology program.
-
OUR VIEW: ‘Mailing it in’ is not good enough
The U.S. Postal Service has been mailing it in for years.
-
KEPPELER: Daydream believer
I felt sorry for Whitney Houston. But this week, the world lost two people whose departure makes me truly nostalgic.
-
OUR VIEW: Slisz v. Beyer exposes flaws in election system
Though voters in the city who have waited for nearly four months to find out who won might find this welcome news, the problems with our election system this razor-thin race uncovered are anything but comforting.
-
OUR VIEW: Officials need to take walk
The tumult and excitement over approving Nik Wallenda’s request to walk across the Niagara Gorge has at times been deafening.
- More Editorials Headlines
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
