Having recently banned smoking in its restaurants, North Carolina is now considering a rule change to allow pets on restaurant patios:
North Carolina health officials are proposing a rule change that would let pets come to the table at outdoor restaurants as long as they don’t go inside or do anything else that might contaminate people’s food. [...]
On the other hand, some people don’t think restaurants should open their al fresco seating to patrons who scratch, pant, lick themselves and eat indiscriminately off the ground.
Dyrl Wood of Smithfield, an empty nester now, wrote the state to support Wake’s dog ban, though he had a Brittany spaniel for years.
“But we didn’t take the Brittany spaniel out to eat,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “My view is that you can have them and love them and care for them, and when you go out to eat you can bring them some scraps to have when you come home.
“But don’t require other people to dine with them. It’s unappetizing.”
If the rule change is approved, restaurant owners will be allowed to decide for themselves whether or not to allow pets on their patios. What a concept! It’s amazing how foreign the idea of having diverse policies is to some people. If they don’t like pets, pets shouldn’t be allowed at a single restaurant in the entire state. If they don’t like smoking, smoking needs to be banned. That’s the problem with deciding these matters politically: The “right” decision is forced onto everyone, leaving people who have different preferences with no venues in which to act on them.
For the record, this blog is pro-pooches on patios.
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Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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One of the people that comes to our Tuesday evening gathering has a big ol’ bull mastiff, and he brings him whenever the weather’s nice. We all got pissed off when we learned he couldn’t bring the dog anymore… which led to the always entertaining spectacle of a bunch of Democrats complaining about excessive regulation
Anyway, if I recall correctly this wasn’t done democratically. It was a decision by the Wake Co. regulatory agency to interpret the law forbidding pets in restaurants so that pets wouldn’t be allowed on patios either. What’s interesting is that the picture isn’t of a dining patio - it’s the public sidewalk on Hargett St. where the Raleigh Times has set up outdoor dining. In fact, the patio onto which my friend can no longer bring his dog is really an extension of the Oberlin Rd. sidewalk. So now, thanks to that interpretation, pets apparently won’t be allowed on public sidewalks in front of a restaurant.
So if you live in Raleigh, and you come to a restaurant while walking your dog, cross the street (of course, that could end up being problematic on Hargett, where there are restaurants scattered on both sides of the street).
@Jeff: I’ll tell Cato to expect a flood of new donations from dog owners in Raleigh.