Tom Carr needs to settle this over a beer.Melodrama alert: The battle between Capitol Hill club owners and City Attorney Tom Carr is still ongoing. Only now it’s more insufferable.Yesterday, a group of bar owners filed an ethics complaint against Carr. They say they were unfairly targeted after throwing fundraisers for Carr’s opponent Pete Holmes. Considering the group’s lawyer can’t even say what rule the City Attorney violated, however, it should probably be viewed less as a serious complaint and more as a formal tattle (or a cheap ploy for media attention).Not to be outdone, Carr then issued the ultra scary presser in response. It began: “2001 Seattle. Four nights. 9,000 young people. Alcohol. Music. Gunfire. Three riots. Cars overturned. Seventy-two (72) people treated at hospitals. One person dead.”So let’s see. On one side we have a group of aggrieved businesspeople playing the victim card. On the other we have the vengeful bureaucrat using scare tactics and an argument that’s way past its shelf-life.Who to side with? How ’bout neither.Anecdotally, the bar scene in Capitol Hill couldn’t be much better. A drive down Broadway on a weekend night will confirm that. And as Carr’s office has reported, only three of 250 liquor permits have been disputed. That’s hardly the death count you’d expect from a fierce gun battle.Here’s an idea: How’s abouts Carr and the unhappy owners sit down for a beer? We already know he likes Manny’s on tap. And there’s no chance that people who own bars don’t throw ’em back. (That’s why they got into the bar business in the first place.)So waddya say, Carr and his detractors? Your differences may seem great now, but if history has taught us anything it’s that nothing settles a good bar feud like hashing things out over a cold, delicious beverage. Now who’s buyin’?
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