Posted on 09/14/2010 12:31:01 PM PDT by SmithL
One of the major reasons people come to San Francisco is to eat. However, members of the Board of Supervisors seem intent on killing this advantage.
Today at their 2 p.m. meeting at City Hall they will vote whether or not to impose a “fee” that will increase the cost of any alcohol sold in the city. The reason for the fee, according to the bill’s sponsor, John Avalos, is to defray the cost of treating alcohol-related disease. The city spends an estimated $17 million a year for health costs related to alcohol abuse; this fee will raise about $16 million.
It’s one more act that seems destined to diminish San Francisco as a dining mecca. And make no mistake — we are a mecca. In 2007 and 2008, San Franciscans spent more eating out — about $4,070 per household per year — than any where else in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent consumer expenditure survey. That’s $140 more than Washington, D.C., $727 more than Los Angeles and $739 more than New York.
People around the country feel similarly. A study conducted by American Express and released by the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau earlier this year showed that domestic travelers coming to San Francisco spent disproportionately more at restaurants. Restaurants account for 54 percent of total spending. When card members visit other cities, the average is 13 percent.
So why are we messing with this?
Each year the city seems to add more taxes and fees that makes top chefs and restaurants want to flee. First there are permit fees and hoops new businesses have to jump through to open — I’m told it’s much more difficult and involved to start a restaurant in San Francisco than in New York and...
(Excerpt) Read more at insidescoopsf.sfgate.com ...
Birds gotta fly, andRATS gotta tax!
If you do go to a crowded restaurant in San Francisco, don’t ask someone to hold your seat.
“The reason for the fee, according to the bill’s sponsor, John Avalos, is to defray the cost of treating alcohol-related disease.”
BS! The reason is to make money.
San Francisco is one of the best food destinations in the country with the some of the best wine lists in the world.. and by god, Big Brother is going to do its best to ensure it doesn’t stay that way.
“BS! The reason is to make money.”
Yesterday, Rush did a great bit on this re: cigarettes. If you want to stop smoking, ban cigarettes. If you want money, tax them!
Beware as well of the fellow bar customer who offers to push your stool in.
Yes, all those drunken bums are buying their hooch at the restaurants...
The Good News - a Dim stronghold is weakened.
The Bad News - some will leave and take their evil philosophy to other places.
If you’re unlucky enough to live in SF hell, drinking is about you’re only option..
It’s simple, it’s easy, and Dems will never understand. If you want less of something, tax it. The more you tax, the less you’ll have of the thing in question.
Dems seem to embrace their ignorance on financial matters.
Don’t forget the healthcare fee that SF restaurants charge. Yes, it is there. Was very suprised to see it when paying my bill.
Why not just tax the booze on Nancy’s plane?
That would just about cover it.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is filled with freaks who left their suburban homes so “They can be free to be themselves.”
Now that they’re here, they telling everybody else how they want people to live.
Well, idiots go back to where you came and try you antics there.
Foretunately, Trader Vics is in Emeryville.
One of the major reasons people come to San Francisco is to eat. Another is to drink and participate in drunken, drug-addled, ass-ram-rampages like the San Francisco (GayDyke) Pride Celebration & Parade, usually held in late June. The San Fran GayBo Parade photos here (http://www.zombietime.com/up_your_alley_2008/part_1_full/index.php) are neither safe for work nor fit for adult, non-sick, human viewing.
Except for a few sparsely patronized organic cooperatives, SF restaurants are privately owned, bastions of free enterprise and capitalism. The city council must therefore attack them. It is a reflex, a foregone conclusion. They literally cannot help themselves.
The objective is to ensure that San Franciscans must eventually prepare their own tofu at home or go to one of the public feeding stations for their carefully balanced, certified organic and shade grown gruel rations.
If you drop your wallet, you would be well-advised to kick it back to your hotel rather than attempt to bend over and pick it up.
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