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Kent doesn’t want to be ‘sin’ city

I noticed this story on the Beacon’s site about Kent pushing for a sin tax on alcohol. I mentioned this previously in a post as one of the city manager’s proposals.

I still have mixed thoughts on the whole thing. I mean, sure a number of the calls the police and fire department get concern students, and sure there was always a spike in public intoxication and underage drinking arrests on weekends. But come on. It’s basically a tax aimed at the college kids who probably spend more on alcohol in a week than most other adults do in a month.

Add this on top of the smoking ban, which bar owners say negatively impacts their businesses, and you’re pretty much going to kill some of those local bars. Kids can easily drive to Akron or Ravenna and stock up on alcohol. They could easily host parties instead of going out to the bars with friends (increasing noise complaints, litter, etc.) In fact, many kids already pre-game and arrive at the bars drunk because they’re too cheap to pay for drinks all night. I’d be willing to bet this would have, if not a signficant impact, at least a noticeable impact on the amount of alcohol sold.

Maybe that’s the point?

As an aside, are there really 42 bars in Kent? That has to be the highest number of any single business in Kent. I don’t even think there are 42 restaurants in the city, and I could probably only name a dozen of the bars. Maybe. Weird.

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