I went to Atlanta with a friend today to do some shopping (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Costco! Yippie!)* and we shopped so efficiently that we thought that we'd be able to get back home early. Then we got stuck behind this. Being on I-75N was like hanging out in the parking lot outside the mall in the week before Christmas. But we managed to get off the interstate and drive past the snarl on surface streets, so we didn't have to wait until the lanes were clear to get home. And just as we were pulling into Chattanooga, we heard on the radio that they'd just opened up one lane to traffic.
But it's been another beautiful, t-shirt-&-shorts kind of day, so I can't complain too much -- especially since my friend so skillfully navigated us around the traffic snarl, saving us from an extra hour of just sitting out on I-75.
But it's been another beautiful, t-shirt-&-shorts kind of day, so I can't complain too much -- especially since my friend so skillfully navigated us around the traffic snarl, saving us from an extra hour of just sitting out on I-75.
*Dear Tennessee: think of all the tax revenue that's lost to the state every time I have to drive down to Georgia to shop (today's total was $9.11, and that was at Georgia's much lower rates), simply because puritanical states like Tennessee won't allow the sale of wine in grocery stores, making the state much less attractive to some very cool stores that happen devote a substantial amount of real estate to their wine selections. It's an incoherent and uncivilized law, and should be changed ASAP!
10 comments:
Congrats on finding your way around the snarl. I remember back when Hurricane Rita hit Houston, my aunt and cousin made it to Austin in the usual amount of time, because my aunt knew her way around the county roads. (That was the time that getting out of Houston was impossible, just after Katrina.)
Are you telling me that the whole state of TN is dry??? And I thought that dry counties in TX were the only remnant of prohibition in the US...
Oh, I just re-read your rant. But there are liquor stores, right? And they have wine???
Yes. In Tennessee, you can buy wine in stores that sell liquor and wine, but those stores are not allowed to sell beer or corkscrews. And you can buy beer and corkscrews in grocery stores, but not wine and liquor. It's crazy.
I didn't realize until now that the blue laws were part of why we didn't have a Costco here. That's reason 101 of why they should change.
(I was in Austin during Rita, and I remember those backups - 290 was jammed, but Texas 71 somewhat ok and 969 was wide open)
While I certainly won't quibble on the description of these parts as "puritanical" in many ways, recent research has shown that, whatever the original causes for the crazy liquor laws, the support toward keeping them the same comes not so much from the puritans as it does from the wholesale liquor industry, and its trade association.
Just, you know, FWIW.
I am aware of how much time and effort the liquor lobby has spent trying to keep our laws incoherent, but so far, they haven't faced any opposition from the people of Tennessee. Until they do, the laws won't change, and we'll be stuck with blue laws, written by baptists and clung to, ironically enough, by liquor store owners -- what an odd alliance!
Maybe we need to stop visiting the wine and liquor stores here. If we buy everything in Georgia they will have to accept the fact that they don't control us - we control what we choose to buy and where we shop.
I had no idea that TN still had issues with alcohol. It better get over it since TN has become the new place for Floridians to move to.
PS...are the taxes in GA really less than in TN? I wouldn't have thought so. Is there a state income tax in TN?
Since Tennessee doesn't have an income tax (and no other great sourse of revenue like Florida has with tourism), we're heavily reliant on the sales and property taxes. So, we've got the worst schools in the nation and we tax the hell out of anything you might buy at the Wal-Mart -- we pay close to 10%, and we even pay it on food. Bread and milk. Baby formula.
But we don't have a sales tax on services like landscaping, attorneys or nannies. And there is no sales tax on things like country club dues or golf course fees.
I'm pretty sure it's the most regressive tax structure in the country. We tax the hell out of the very poor and really stick it to the middle class, but the wealthy get a pass.
But if your kids are though school and you have a nice little nest egg, it's a great place to live, so we should be a good fit with the Florida demographic, yes?
Heh. I should work for the Chamber. ;-D
Alice I'm still laughing at that last comment. It's really so sad all you can do is laugh to maintain sanity.
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