Editorial: Don’t mess with success

Monday, Sept. 3, 2007 | 12:55 p.m.

One of the charms of Boulder City is its rural look and feel, a real draw for tourists from faraway urban areas, or close-by urban areas such as Las Vegas. Driving along Nevada Way in the city's business district, visitors can immediately sense and enjoy the down-home atmosphere.

Particularly inviting are the stores that place some of their antiques and other merchandise out on the sidewalks. An almost festival atmosphere is created as people stop to look the items over, chat with one another and perhaps order lunch or dinner at a sidewalk table. That there is life in Boulder City becomes immediately obvious and many people find themselves compelled to park and join the fun.

But apparently the Boulder City Council is not familiar with the saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." As reported Thursday by Sun reporter Mike Trask, the council is now discussing a plan that would require merchants to obtain a permit to set up their sidewalk displays.

Permits, of course, would cost money and the time it would take to file for one. Then merchants would have to post the permit somewhere and remember to renew it. And surely, future city councils would seek to raise the fee and further tinker with the permits - one day there would be Level One permits, Level Two and so on, variable by price according to the number of items a merchant wanted to display on the sidewalk. And it would only get worse.

Boulder City merchants are upset that the council would entertain such an idea. We understand their point of view. Why the council would want to meddle with an attractive business district tradition going back 50-plus years is beyond us.