Justin Hembree, town manager of Tryon, thinks certain regulations may be hampering business downtown. Rather than directing staff to examine the town’s ordinances and shuck a few items, the town council approved vying for one of thee spots in “a NC Department of Commerce program through the Office of Urban Development and the Community Planning Program.” The Tryon Daily Bulletin says the program within a program is billed as being able to help local governments identify and amend any ordinances that “might be inhibiting” business. Anybody brave enough to perform a little gedanken experiment could figure this one out with their eyes closed.
This is one of those things one must hold a public position of prominence not to understand. Consider the following taken from Agenda 2010:
- In a 2005 John Locke Foundation survey of more than 600 North Carolina business leaders, regulatory burden was ranked as the second most important factor reducing the state’s economic competitiveness. (Only North Carolina’s tax burden ranked higher.)
- About 81 percent of N.C. business leaders said that the cost of most government regulations exceeded their benefits.
