Public asked for thoughts on booze law
(CNS): The public is being asked to make a contribution to the government’s review of the liquor licensing laws and policies currently being undertaken by the Department of Commerce and Investment (DCI). Residents are being given two weeks to submit their thoughts and constructive feedback on issues, such as the moratorium on new licences, operating hours, proximity of new establishments to schools and churches, mobile bar licenses and the current pricing structure, or any other matter surrounding how government manages the sale of alcohol. Officials said the responses would be used to make informed decisions regarding improvements to the Liquor Licensing Law (2000), which will include structural changes to policies and correct operational challenges.
The DCI recently announced that it has already has begun to examine the liquor licensing functions, increase its enforcement and compliance efforts, and review the legal and operational structure of the Liquor Licensing Board – the latter being spearheaded by a joint public-private sector review committee.
The announcement that the booze laws and processes were under review came in the wake of a chaotic annual meeting in August, when the conflicts of interest, real and perceived, caused the chair of the board and two other members to recuse themselves, leaving the board without a quorum and unable to function.
Licence holders also expressed significant concerns that there was inequity in the process and that board members were conflicted in a number of areas, with the chair and one member being related to at least two liquor license holders and a third board member being a direct holder of a retail liquor license.
Anyone who wants to submit a comment regarding the future of liquor licensing must email their thoughts to licensing@gov.ky on or before 18 October. In order to facilitate a timely review of submissions, people are being asked to keep their responses brief, and submit them in bullet point format.
Contact details also must be submitted in the event that the review committee needs clarification on anything.
Category: Local News
License the Supermarkets like they do in the UK – I never saw any more drunks as a result ….. only better prices and 'one-stop' shopping……
Just try and don't let them get that awful 'Supermarket' Brand Wine – Like Tescos 'Floribundi' from the Northern or Southern Regions of outer Biddlebong or wherever 🙂 unless the'yre selling it for altar wine (just a smidgen) ….. Bit like selling 'Nighttrain Express' or whatever it's called.
I'm tempted to suggest the old (it was changed years ago) UK system where licences to sell alcohol were determined by the police and magistrates. The problem with that is too many RCIPS officers apparently have financial interests in licensed premises. Let's be realistic, in a resident population the size of the Cayman Islands any decision making board (look at the WPB for instance) is going to be compromised sooner or later.
They need to raise the amount of wine a person can bring in without a license. As is presently stands, you can only import 4 bottles of wine (3 liters). Individuals should be able to import one case (9 liters) without a license. After all, there are many wines that are not available in Cayman and we are a somewhat affluent society that may want to enjoy more variety.
The Liquor Licence Law is but one of several outdated pieces of legislation in this jurisdiction that needs to be repealed and replaced by modern legislation. However, legislation is only as good as the jurisdiction that enforces it. There have been over the years many breaches of the existing legislation, including the implementation of a "moratorium" on the issue of new licenses, the creation of mobile licensees – which our current law does not allow for at all – and the continued appointment of the current chairman (for life?). Then there is the typical appointment of political cronies to the Board (as we tend to do here with all boards) even where they have glaring conflicts of interest. What good is new legislation if we can't even follow the existing woefully inadequate legislation? We have, sadly, become a banana republic, albeit without enough bananas to go round…
Extend licensing hours and stop the greedy taxi drivers from ripping people off by charging per person to the same destination!
Has always seemed odd to me. If a person takes heroin and becomes to high to drive or walk, they're some kind of loser. People take too much alcohol and can't even drive their cars and the community rally's to donate busses, drivers etc to take their sorry, stupefied bodies home. Anyone care to explain…
Probably because after two beers you are too drunk to drive, just too many selfish idiots think they are special and drive anyway.
Bottom one is they are taking to much to perform a simple everyday task. It's pathetic when you think of it.
Issue licences
And allow the licence to open when they want as late as they want with the exception of our special religious days such as good Friday and Christmas day.
Every living soul over 21 years of age apply a for a liquor licende. It is disgusting, hearing about licenses, when their are those greedy, hypocritical individuals, who ww pant all and crave all for themselves, who came herein and have tried to sideline caymanians and keep them out off business, because they have the ambulance to put up front. Stop being so craven, trying to keep bread from another's table. Some of these business people have 10 – 20 business and are still crying foul. I would like to see a limit placed on liquor licensed businesses and ownership.
Put a moratorium on liquor licenses, it is and additive drug, which has cause do too many accidents and fatalities on this small island. Less is better, than more. It is like the churches, they are money making ventures (those new style churches) that we have allowed to flourish, by Grabbing from the poor in the name of The Lord. Hypocrisy to the extreme.
I like beer.
im a spliff man myself
Wholesalers should not be allowed to sell retail. They should not be allowed to compete with retail premises, especially the small mom and pop outlets.
Take it you own "a small mom and pop enterprise". No-one else would want the prices kept artificially high.
Have you heard of Monopoly/Oligopoly. They should have to choose, to be an wholesaler or a retailer. The wholesaler is underselling the retailer at all times. We need a Fair Trade Commission.
Or we just need to have an open market to reduce prices even more. Monopolistic or, mnore likely, oligopolistic pricing artificially increases costs and profits. The real bad guy in the example put forward by the poster is the small retailer who is seeking to artificially inflate prices for consumer through oligopolistic pricing to maintain profit margins.
I think 11.45 would not know what an oligopoly was if it hit them in the face.
just leave the local churches out of it….they know little of true christianity anyways…….
Those back-door and side-door religions that spring up in houses, shopping centers, and in the open air. Stop encouraging false prophesy, when The Lord comes, no man on earth will enable to tell us he is arriving by boat, jet, or he is falling from the skies tomorrow or on any specific date. He said, "believe".
let adults make their own decisions regarding drinking.(obviosusly enforce drunken disordely offences at the same time)….. end of story.
If people want to piss away their lives and bother people around them, they should be allowed to do that 24-7
Thanks, I had been awaiting your approval.
No you weren't. Youve been bothering people around you for years.
Honey, is that you?
you funny…. now get back to your chores
There are plenty of people who already piss away their lives at the bar. Too many of them have children at home that are being seriously neglected.
"…proximity of new establishments to schools and churches…"
Catholic churches serve wine on Sundays.
Is this just another case of "selective" law enforcement?
How about our complainers setting up liquor license premises a few feet from churches and our past Christian leaderader allowing it to happen. My hands are clean and my heart is pure. Enter into the gates of hell.
it's Not wine…. it's blood by the time it's served.
close 3am sunday morning
allow dancing on Sundays
Just remove the 12 midnight foolishness and let us have a good Saturday night out after working our butts off all week will ya?
– Do not close up at 12 midnight Sat.- ridiculous for tourists who come down to enjoy their holidays and must not be good for locals
– Liquor stores should be open later
– Have better taxi system or bus service running on 7MB (at least) at night to promote no drinking and driving- would be nice for locals to have it run into the districts- flat rate fees to districts- on the half hour or hour.
Yes, late busses on Friday and Saturday til 3 am. A lot of people can't afford a 20 dollar cab for 3 miles. This would facilitate more business and more employment. Also buses should be allowed to stop anywhere on the route to pick up/drop off passengers after a certain time of the night, say 10pm.
This would also allow people from other parts of the island to come to the SMB for dinner, movies and drinks and vice versa. How much is a cab from SMB to east end? 100 each way?
The EE hospital will open soon and I would think those thousands of patients may enjoy a couple of drinks on SMB or NS or BT without worrying about transportation.
Also certain days of the year should also be extended to 3am. We can't kick tourists out of establishments and send them back to their hotels at 11:59pm on Dec 31 as we have done a number of times in the past.
You'll upset the baby Jesus talking like that?
Beach Bus route: run from George town to Calico Jacks with designated stops on the way targets the major hotels/bars/restaurants ($3?per person)- run on the half hour or on a rotating basis. Tourists would no longer need to rent a car to go 5 minutes up the road- less congestion on the roads- less drunk drivers- more employment for Caymanians.
West Bay/7MB Bus Route: Can make a circle thru West Bay and target designated stops and then head to 7MB hotels/bars/restaurants($5 per person)- run on the half hour
Bodden/Savannah/7MB Bus Route: ($5)- run on the half hour
East End/7MB: ($10 per person)- run on the hour
Run these on the 1/2 hour or hour, slow down the drinking and driving on the island and promotes the businesses on the island. Who would like to travel to Rum Point, but does not want to drink and drive, but would bus up there for $20 round trip- cheaper than a rental car(tourist), safer than getting a DUI ticket/accident- cheaper than a taxi on all bus routes. Flat fees. No confusion. No calling a taxi and no high bill at the end of the evening. No wondering how you are going to get home at the end of the night. No questioning if you are too drunk to drive. Hop the bus.
Tourists could buy a bus pass – 3 days – on and off as many times as wanted for a set price that would need to be shown to the route driver upon entering the bus.
Maybe that would even work for locals – a monthly pass? for a set price.
Better still why not run a tram up and down SMB, would be a tourist attraction, take a proportion of cars off that part of the road, would be safer than taxis etc competing with the merge lane… Now that the bypass is open, this is a business opportunity….
have dart build a mono-rail 'for us'"!!!!!
SMART AS HELL taxi drivers down here are a rip off