Seven more reasons Montgomery County needs a social venue license

Last week, I discussed how Montgomery County’s lack of nightlife has hampered its ability to attract rising talent. One solution would be to create a social venue license, a liquor license for venues that traditionally don’t serve food, like dive bars and nightclubs, who cannot operate in the county today. However, there are plenty of reasons outside of economic growth to create a social venue license.

It’s the climate conscious choice

The current regulation creates a second commute for those wishing to socialize that is impractically long for many to consider public transportation. These trips of course contribute to the county’s carbon footprint, and could be shortened if not entirely eliminated if attractive social venues were located throughout the county. What’s more, as distances shorten, public transportation becomes more convenient and attractive. If Montgomery County wants to stop its regional transit death spiral, it needs to convince more people to start riding. Utilizing our existing transit network to safely move people to and from bars is an obvious way to do so.

It will help alleviate retail vacancy

Retail vacancy slowly continues to rise in the county. Bars and other social venues of course offer experiences that cannot be replaced through online shopping. There are property tax implications in filling these vacant retail spaces with social venues, however a larger concern may be the impact on vacancy on currently operating retail. As retail space continues to sit vacant, our downtowns and retail centers begin to feel like ghost towns, which makes it harder for remaining tenants to attract and retain customers.

It keeps revenue in the county

All the money spent on nightlife outside of the county is money that could be used to stimulate our local economy. As discussed, these costs can be substantial. Not only are we depriving ourselves of revenue that could feed local businesses, we are also robbing our youth of the opportunity to save up towards purchasing their first home, paying off student loans, or starting their own business. In doing so we not only rob our youth of the best years of their life, but also rob ourselves of the economic development our highly educated workforce could create if they were not forced to choose between maintaining a healthy social life and saving towards their financial goals.

It would facilitate cross-cultural conversation

Montgomery County is the most diverse county in the country. If the county truly believes that diversity is our greatest strength, then it should be actively looking for ways to utilize that strength to solve our county’s cultural, economic, and social problems. That’s why it’s all the more tragic that we don’t have neighborhood bars to facilitate cross-cultural conversation. The humble neighborhood bar has been bringing people from diverse backgrounds together for centuries, and we would be foolish to believe that we can truly harness the power of our diversity while continuing to enforce policies that isolate us from our neighbors.

It would prevent social isolation

If residents can’t socialize without incurring significant burdens, they will isolate. Social isolation and loneliness are not trivial factors when determining public policy. There are economic consequences, with lonely employees 4.5 times more likely to struggle with productivity as well as costing their employers $4,200 a year in work days lost. However the health implications are much more concerning. Chronic social isolation is as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The health implications are even more dire for black residents, who are twice as likely to die prematurely if chronically isolated.

Seniors need social venues as well

While it is true that the county needs to do more to attract young people, it also needs to figure out more ways to facilitate social interaction among our rapidly growing population of seniors.

Seniors are disproportionately impacted by social isolation, and the physical and psychological impact of loneliness are more acute for this cohort. It is sad but inevitable that much of our aging population who are not currently isolated will be in the future as their peer group shrinks, which is why it’s important that we allow those hoping to foster socialization of our elderly population room to innovate.

It would grant the region’s service workers greater economic stability

Would-be partygoers are not the only ones impacted by the commuting distance to nightlife. Because of the high cost of living in DC, many much of the region’s nightlife workers live in Montgomery County and commute via transit to work. When public transportation service is reduced due to repairs, budget cuts, accidents, or any other reason, these workers are often forced to take rideshares that they can’t afford. Creating nightlife jobs closer to where these workers live would open up other options like walking and biking, and would make taking rideshare less painful in those instances where there is no other viable choice.