{"id":5391,"date":"2009-09-10T12:02:05","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T17:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=5391"},"modified":"2009-09-10T12:02:05","modified_gmt":"2009-09-10T17:02:05","slug":"a-small-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=5391","title":{"rendered":"A Small Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s good news, and there’s bad news.<\/p>\n

The good news?\u00a0 Outrage from Twin Cities’ bar owners over a ham-fisted backdoor tax hike (which we covered<\/a> last March)\u00a0got results<\/a>; the Met Council has cut the regional sewer fee for patio seating:<\/p>\n

Twin Cities bar and restaurant owners got a break Wednesday from the Metropolitan Council on fees charged for outdoor patio seating that help pay for the regional sewer system. One pub owner already is planning to add a patio next summer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Metropolitan Council approved a 75 percent discount on the fees effective Oct. 1. Restaurateurs had argued that the regional sewer-system fees they pay for outdoor dining seats, on top of what they pay for indoor seating, are excessive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Council was charging the same fees for outdoor patio seats – which are really useful from June through August, or April through October for people like me – as they were for indoor, year-round seating.\u00a0 It made patio seating unaffordable for many restauranteurs and pub owners, like our friend Terry Keegan at Keegan’s Irish Pub<\/a> in Minneapolis who, unsurprisingly given the outspoken sort he is, turns up in the story.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the “bad” news, of sorts:<\/p>\n

Keegan’s Irish Pub in Minneapolis shut down its outdoor patio last year after city inspectors said the bar needed to pay $7,200 in regional sewer fees. Keegan’s plans to reopen the patio next year. “We wouldn’t do it at all if they didn’t bring the charge down,” owner Terry Keegan said. “We simply couldn’t afford it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So the patio will not, in fact, be open for Saturday’s fifth anniversary MOB gala.\u00a0 But what the heck; the sidewalk’ll be nice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we have\u00a0a victory to celebrate now!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given how few and far between victories are for small businessmen, property owners and the little guy in places like the Twin Cities this past few years, it’s worth tipping a pint or two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s good news, and there’s bad news. The good news?\u00a0 Outrage from Twin Cities’ bar owners over a ham-fisted backdoor tax hike (which we covered last March)\u00a0got results; the Met Council has cut the regional sewer fee for patio seating: Twin Cities bar and restaurant owners got a break Wednesday from the Metropolitan Council on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capitalism-v-socialism","category-minneapolis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5391\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}