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I wonder if the planning department could create a 'market' for bar/restaurant permits in commercial districts? As the density of bars/restaurants increases in a district the cost of receiving a permit (and/or the tax rate on the commercial portion of the property?) would increase. This would allow certain neighborhoods/districts to exceed the limit, but only when the market was willing to pay the increasing cost of entry. A well managed market (something the planning department might not be great at creating and managing) could inject some nuance into how to balance the negative externalities of excessive bars/restaurants (public good) against the efficiency of allowing market forces to determine the optimum number of bars/restaurants in a particular district.

While parking is a completely different animal, I think Donald Shoup's insight of bringing market forces to bear on 'public markets' might be applicable here.

by Justin M on Apr 29, 2009 3:14 pm • link • report

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