The Washington City Paper recently published my letter to the editor regarding their excellent cover story on Montgomery County's government-run alcohol distribution system and how it negatively impacts wine consumers. The letter reads:

Tim Carman and the Washington City Paper have done us all a public service by exposing the byzantine government-run alcohol distribution system that exists in Montgomery County (“Pain in the Glass,” 2/9). Finally a bright light has been shone on a broken system that results in higher prices and worse selection for wine consumers, lost time and money for small business owners, and less economic development for the county as a whole. While Citronelle’s Mark Slater wonders “why the citizens of the county even let that stuff go on,” the fact is that most citizens don’t have the time or gumption to figure out why wine prices are higher at restaurants in Montgomery County, why there aren’t more wine shops, and why they have to drive across the county to find a county-run liquor store. This, in addition to the fact that they can’t buy beer and wine at the grocery store or order wine online from finewine.com. What many consumers do know is that it’s easier and cheaper to buy beer and wine in Virginia and the District, so they do. There is a consumer movement afoot, however, to change all of this—to bring Maryland’s beer and wine laws into the 21st century. If we have it our way, fine wines in Montgomery County won’t cost any more than they do in the District, wine and beer will be sold a few aisles down from the steak and seafood at the grocery store, and we’ll be able to get fine wines shipped direct to our doorsteps from wineries around the world. To paraphrase Citronelle’s Mark Slater, we citizens aren’t going to let these stupid laws go on any more.

Scott Ehlers
Executive Director
Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws
Hyattsville, Md.

Posted by Scott Ehlers at 05:52 AM | Permalink

The Washington City Paper ran a wonderful cover story this week on the sorry state of wine distribution in Montgomery County under the government-run alcohol distribution system. Three cheers for a job well done by "Young and Hungry" contributor Tim Carman. Some highlights:

A Bethesda chef says he has plenty of opinions on the subject, but he won’t commit any of them to print under his name. The last time one of his employees spoke out on the topic, he found his restaurant the target of an underage drinking sting. A Silver Spring restaurateur can relate; she’s wary about speaking out on the subject, too, lest she make “any enemies with the people that we get our supply from.” ....

What is the source of all their fears? The Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control (DLC), which distributes every drop of alcohol consumed in the county. Montgomery is the only jurisdiction in the United States that controls the distribution of the big three—beer, wine, and liquor—and it’s been handling this puritanical duty since late 1933, when the county decided the best way to limit the supply of fire water to its residents was to put the government in charge. If the county served more as a dam back in the post-Prohibition era, stemming the flow of alcohol within its borders, the DLC acts more as an irrigation system these days. In fiscal 2006 alone, the DLC sold more than $191 million in beer, wine, and liquor to the 900-plus licensees in the county. ....

Governments, of course, have always regulated products and industries that officials deem dangerous to the public’s health, safety, or morals. There are age restrictions on smoking and outright embargoes on puffing those cancer sticks in public places, including bans in the District and Montgomery County. There are waiting periods and background checks on the purchase of guns. Now there’s even a ban on trans fats in New York City.

But if governments tend to legislate lifestyle choices, which in turn affects businesses, the DLC goes one step further: It has wedged itself between alcohol wholesalers and retailers who, frankly, would prefer to serve their markets without the presence of a slow-footed government bureaucracy. They have no delusions, however, that the county will sacrifice its multimillion-dollar revenue stream to get out of the alcohol business, so all sides have learned how to live with one another. In fact, businesses readily give the county credit for doing a decent job in many areas, except one: the sale and distribution of special-order wines. ....

Full article here.

Posted by Scott Ehlers at 04:58 PM | Permalink

Date: February 1, 2007

Re: Positions and Comments on Alcoholic Beverage Bills Before the Committee on February 1, 2007

---------------------------

Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws (MBBWL), incorporated in Hyattsville, Maryland, advocates for beer and wine laws that: 1) benefit consumers; 2) promote competition; 3) protect the environment; and 4) support Maryland's brewers and wineries.

MBBWL represents all Marylanders — consumers, retailers, producers, distributors, and just regular folks — who share our values.

Our top priorities are allowing consumers to buy beer and wine in grocery stores, and to order wine through the mail from Maryland wineries, Maryland retailers, and through online retailers like wine.com.

Summary
We are taking the following positions, and making the following comments, about the alcoholic beverage bills before you today:

PG 304-07 — Class B-DD (Development District) License
Position: Support, with amendments

PG 305-07 — Licenses – Exercise of Off-Sale Privileges
Position: Neutral

PG 307-07 — Unlawful Drinking and Open Containers
Position: Oppose

PG 312-07 — Licenses – Waterfront Entertainment Complex
Position: Support, with amendments

PG 313-07 — Licenses – Advisory Commission to Study Luxury Type Restaurants
Position: Support, with amendments

PG 314-07 — Licenses – Woodmore Towne Center at Glenarden and the Greenbelt Station Town Center
Position: Support, with amendments

PG 318-07 — License Transfers – Gas Stations
Position: Neutral

Commentary and Suggested Amendments

PG 304-07 — Class B-DD (Development District) License
Position: Support, with amendments

Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws applauds all attempts by the Prince George’s County delegation to expand the availability of quality restaurants in the county. While this bill makes it more likely that consumers near the Capital Plaza commercial area will soon have better restaurants, it does not offer such opportunities for the tens of thousands of Prince George’s county residents that do not live near Capital Plaza or the other districts designated in section 9-217(f)(5).

In our view, all of Prince George’s county should be considered a development district. We propose that Class B-DD licenses be available throughout the county. This could easily be accomplished by deleting lines 127 through 148 and inserting the words “Prince George’s County” after the word “within” on line 126 of page 6 of the bill.

In lieu of promoting more restaurants throughout Prince George’s county, we would ask that you designate more areas in Hyattsville and College Park as being eligible for Class B-DD licenses as these areas are certainly “underserved by restaurants.”

PG 305-07 — Licenses – Exercise of Off-Sale Privileges
Position: Neutral

Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws has no position on this bill.

PG 307-07 — Unlawful Drinking and Open Containers
Position: Oppose

This legislation would increase penalties for the public consumption of alcohol by permitting the incarceration of someone for up to 30 days. This law would apply only to Prince George’s County residents, so county residents would be treated more harshly and unfairly than citizens in other counties in Maryland. Not only does this raise Constitutional “equal protection” issues, but it is also an excessive punishment that is unjust. We do not need to be wasting precious county public safety resources incarcerating more of our citizens. We should not be further burdening our over-worked public defenders by increasing their caseloads. We should not be forcing more people out of work by putting them in jail. Please oppose this bill.

PG 312-07 — Licenses – Waterfront Entertainment Complex
Position: Strongly support, with amendments

Once again, Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws supports attempts by the Prince George’s County delegation to expand the availability of quality restaurants and bars in the county. We especially approve of section 9-102 (a-2), which will allow consumers to purchase beer and wine at a supermarket or grocery store within a Waterfront Entertainment Retail Complex.

However, we do not particularly approve of reducing burdensome regulations in one part of the county and giving special privileges to certain special interests while the rest of the county has to “play by the old rules.” If it is good for development along the waterfront to allow grocery stores to sell beer and wine, then it should be — and it is — good for economic development to allow such sales throughout the county. If it is good to reduce alcohol licensing regulations on hotels along the waterfront as this bill proposes, then it is good to do the same thing for hotels throughout the county.

So, while we support many of the goals of this bill, we think businesses throughout the county should receive similar benefits, not only businesses in the Waterfront Entertainment District.

PG 313-07 — Licenses – Advisory Commission to Study Luxury Type Restaurants
Position: Support, with amendment

MBBWL supports all attempts to bring quality restaurants and bars to Prince George’s County and the rest of Maryland. We support the formation of this Advisory Commission, though we do feel that the definition of a luxury restaurant should be changed to reflect the fact that many “luxury restaurants” do not seat 100 people or have a minimum capital investment of $800,000, especially in older towns with more compact business space. There are many boutique “luxury” restaurants that do not seat 100 people.

More importantly, the Advisory Commission does not have a member representing the most important constituency: consumers. We ask that you include at least one member of the Advisory Commission to represent consumer interests. Of course, you should feel free to list “a representative from Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws” as a member of the Advisory Commission.

PG 314-07 — Licenses – Woodmore Towne Center at Glenarden and the Greenbelt Station Town Center
Position: Support, with amendments

As we have previously stated, we support all attempts to bring more quality bars and restaurants to Prince George’s County. We applaud the fact that you are allowing partnerships, corporations, and LLCs to hold an interest in one or more Class B-DD licenses within the development district. However, as we have previously argued, if these policy changes are good for development in Woodmore Towne Centre and the Greenbelt Station Town Centre, then they are good for the whole county.

We suggest that you delete lines 88 to 93, and place the words “Prince George’s County” after the word “in:” on line 87 of page 4 of the bill to make all of Prince George’s County a development district.

In the event that you keep only Woodmore Towne Centre as a development district, we would also strongly suggest that you make an exception for a grocery store to have a retail beer and wine license at that location since Wegmans will be in that development complex and they should be able to provide their customers with quality beers and wines.

PG 318-07 — License Transfers – Gas Stations
Position: Neutral

We take no position on this bill.

Posted by Scott Ehlers at 10:08 PM | Permalink