Letters to The Editor

Hospitality industry will suffer from drink tax

Needless to say, the recently approved… Hospitality industry will suffer from drink tax

Needless to say, the recently approved Allegheny County drinking tax is not a good thing for the hospitality industry in Pittsburgh, and it will have an impact on Pitt students who enjoy the bar/night club scene. Although the exact specifics of the tax might not be immediately clear, the bottom line is that everyone in Allegheny County will be paying more for a night out on the town.

For example, a typical $1 draft at an Oakland establishment will soon cost $1.10. Most establishments do not want to deal with dimes, and will therefore likely raise the price of that draft to $1.25.

It is also common knowledge that because of a shortage of hops and other ingredients for beer, most breweries will be raising their prices sometime after the first of the year. Although it is hard to tell, I would not be surprised if within the next six months, the price of an average draft (and probably mixed drinks as well) will increase by about 50 cents.

This increase will especially be difficult for bars and night clubs located in Pittsburgh’s “trendier” neighborhoods (Shadyside, Downtown, Waterfront, South Side, etc.), where the prices of drinks are already much more expensive than here in Oakland.

In fact, it might make some of those already pricey establishments unaffordable to many of their current patrons. In some sense, this tax might help restore business to the Oakland night scene as all establishments in this area currently offer drinks at a significantly reduced rate compared to our counterparts in trendier neighborhoods. Although I can’t speak for all of my colleagues in the Oakland hospitality industry, I suspect that we will all continue to do our best to keep prices as low as possible.

Gene Ney Owner, Gene’s Place

Pitt Police handled riots appropriately

After reading the article in The Pitt News concerning the celebration after the Pitt-West Virginia game, I wanted to take a moment to commend the Pitt Police for their response. It would have been easy to justify immediately clearing the students from the Cathedral and Forbes Avenue, however, Chief Delaney allowed the celebration to continue for 40 minutes.

It impresses me to see that our police understand the school pride and excitement that our students felt after our unexpected victory over WVU by allowing the celebration to continue as long as students were safe and respectful of property. We have a great police department here at Pitt that understands the college culture and that’s not something that we as students should take for granted.

Andrew Saylor College of Business Administration