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.