Location, Location, Location!

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JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Right in my neck of the woods, Crisfield, Maryland, a businessman decided to close down his restaurant with white linen tablecloths and a view of the waterfront. Instead, he wants to open up a sports bar with pool tables, but the local government is giving him a few stop signs and hurdles to jump before he can follow through.

On Wednesday night, council members and business owner Tom Farina agreed to work out a few details of the proposed changes before the April 9 council meeting.

Farina, who operated the upscale Harborside Lighthouse restaurant on West Main Street, is proposing to re-open the business as a sports bar with pool tables.

However, city law prohibits the tables in establishments that also hold liquor licenses.

Among the proposed changes would be a requirement to have letters of support from 12 neighbors and an on-site security agent.

Pool halls also must be in general commercial zones and cannot be within 1,000 feet of a religious establishment.

City officials also said licenses for establishments would be up for renewal annually rather than every four years.

The council also proposes to change an ordinance that prohibits pool halls from operating on Sundays.

Farina closed Harborside Lighthouse two years ago because not enough people patronized the upscale eatery that featured white linen tablecloths and a view of the Crisfield waterfront.

It is no wonder that it is difficult to open a pool room today, at least in my area.

It is interesting that Farina, the businessman, believes that the sports bar with pool tables will be a better fit in this area by the waterfront.

Wishing him all the best! After all, it is location, location, location when it comes to opening up a pool room. :p

Here is the article: http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/NEWS01/803280314/1002

JAM
 
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sliprock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I wonder how long some of these laws or ordinances have been "on the books". Unless it has changed, there was a city ordinance where I live that forbids the game of 9-ball because of its gambling history. Of course, it's not enforced, but someone felt it a necessity 50 years ago. I'm sure "the man" wouldn't hesitate to use these old ordinances to put the pinch on a room owner if it suits their purpose. It's kinda funny how the thought of poolrooms strike fear into local governments everywhere. Our state labor laws used to state that workers under the age of 18 weren't allowed to work in manufacturing, coal mining or pool rooms. I guess that all other occupations were ok.
 
J

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sliprock said:
I wonder how long some of these laws or ordinances have been "on the books". Unless it has changed, there was a city ordinance where I live that forbids the game of 9-ball because of its gambling history. Of course, it's not enforced, but someone felt it a necessity 50 years ago. I'm sure "the man" wouldn't hesitate to use these old ordinances to put the pinch on a room owner if it suits their purpose. It's kinda funny how the thought of poolrooms strike fear into local governments everywhere. Our state labor laws used to state that workers under the age of 18 weren't allowed to work in manufacturing, coal mining or pool rooms. I guess that all other occupations were ok.
Click to expand...

Ain't it the truth.

Check out Florida: :D :D :D

It is unlawful for any person, his servant or employee to permit anyone under the age of 21 years to visit or frequent or play in any billiard parlor in the state; provided, however, this shall not apply to any person on active duty in the Armed Services of the United States, or who has a written permit or card signed and notarized by his parent or guardian and filed in the establishment to which the permit or card is given by the parent or guardian of the minor involved, or a married minor, or when accompanied by parent or guardian. The said permit card shall be valid only in the establishment to which it is issued, and such permit card may be revoked at any time by the parent or guardian, or by the operator of said billiard parlor by returning the card to the parent or guardian, or by any law enforcement officer upon conviction of the party or parties of a crime. No written permit shall be valid in any establishment which sells or permits consumption on its premises of intoxicating or alcoholic beverages.

Geesh! Talk about legal mumbo jumbo! :eek:

JAM
 
J

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And here's Kentucky: :D :D :D

No person owning or controlling a billiard or pool table shall permit, for compensation or reward, any minor under eighteen (18) years of age to play any game on the table, unless such minor shall have first displayed an identification card containing his name, age, photograph, and the signature of his parents or guardian. The minor shall keep such identification card on his person, and it shall be subject to inspection at any time by any peace officer. The person owning or controlling such billiard or pool table shall keep and maintain a registration book in which each minor shall sign. The person owning or controlling such billiard or pool table shall supply a blank identification card to each parent or guardian who makes request for same. Any person who violates this section shall be fined not less than ten ($10) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense. -KRS 436.320 (Passed 1893; Amended in 1954, Ky. Acts ch. 232, sec. 1)

JAM
 
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sliprock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ky. State labor laws regarding youths under the age of 18.



Prohibited jobs:

1. Manufacturing or storing explosives
2. Driving a motor vehicle and being an outside helper on a motor vehicle
3. Coal mining
4. Logging and sawmilling
5. Power-driven wood-working machines
6. Exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations
7. Power-driven hoisting equipment
8. Power-driven metal-forming, punching and shearing machines
9. Mining, other than coal mining
10.Slaughtering, meat packing or processing (including power-driven meat slicing machines)
11.Power-driven bakery machines
12.Power-driven paper-products machines
13 Manufacturing brick, tile and related products
14.Power-driven circular saws, band saws and guillotine shears
15.Wrecking, demolition and ship-breaking operations
16.Roofing operations
17.Excavation operations
18.In, about or in connection with any establishments where alcoholic liquors are distilled, rectified, compounded, brewed, manufactured, bottled, sold for consumption or dispensed unless permitted by the rules and regulations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (except they may be employed in places where the sale of alcoholic beverages by the package is merely incidental to the main business actually conducted).
19.Pool or billiard room
 
9BallPaul

9BallPaul

Banned
Same thing all over!

When I was coming up in Denver during the '60s, a city ordinance required all pool halls to shut down at midnight. Far as I know, all the rooms complied.

That left only a few after-hours joints -- the Familly Fun Center in Wheat Ridge, just across Denver's western border, and Celebrity Sports Center, nestled in the Denver enclave of Glendale. The Fun Center later became Paradise Billiards, and recently re-sold to become Hank's.

Celebrity was a bowling alley with 80 lanes, yet it attracted its share of pool types -- Fat Marty, Joe Finesilver, Indian Karl, Don Rozelle -- but the Fun Center was pool central in Denver for many decades. Even today, the oldtimers gather early for an afternoon session of golf on the snooker table.

Andy Hudson, who died late last year, spent a lifetime playing exquisite 9-ball at the Fun Center. Among the greats who've dropped by were Cornbread Red, Eddie Taylor, Weenie Beanie, Bill Stroud and Ronnie Allen.

Yes, those pool halls must be carefully monitored! Why not a 5 p.m. curfew?
 
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mullyman

mullyman

Hung Like a Gnat!
Silver Member
Let's face it though, pool rooms attract a lot of scumbags. Can you really blame them for all the harsh laws? It's not like they pulled them out for no reason at all. Our forefathers made the bed and we have to sleep in it.
MULLY
 
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janecki84

Professional Amateur
Silver Member
A letter to the city counsel

There is a billiards book i have that has a copy of a letter written to the city counsel concerning almost this exact subject. I cannot remember which it is at the moment. (i am at work) I will hunt it down tonight and post a scan of it. It is a very good persuasive letter, and a good blueprint for a letter of his own that may help the owner sway the minds of the local government. If you know the owner of the business you might drop him a line and send him to this thread later.
 
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fidget

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
stereotypes

mullyman said:
Let's face it though, pool rooms attract a lot of scumbags. Can you really blame them for all the harsh laws? It's not like they pulled them out for no reason at all. Our forefathers made the bed and we have to sleep in it.
MULLY
Click to expand...

I was taught in a criminology class that labeling is a dangerous thing (people tend to become the label they are afforded.) You are furthering a stereotype that perhaps is true in some places. That word you used certainly does not describe the customer base that we have in our room. We have no alcohol, but do have a lot of youth, familes and overall good people. The stereotype may attract them, but the owners certainly don't have to keep them.
 
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