Editorial: Columbia County says Stay and be Social, but Tap is a drag

NO, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners did NOT do the right thing. The Commissioners that voted “NO”, SHOULD’VE listened to their Chairman. They did not. There should’ve been some preliminary discussions among the Commissioners, prior to the meeting. Apparently, there was not. Starting with the building, this has been an investment/joint venture by the County, and frankly, it has not been a very good one. The investment started failing, when the County realized that they were having a major problem attracting businesses willing to pluck down $30 a square in 2019. The plan was cut in half, and smartly downsized to a single building. The County made an investment in Tap Social, and NO ONE had any idea how disruptive the China Virus would be. Frankly, given the timing, I think they actually did a pretty good job on the percentage. Chairman Duncan was correct on this. If Tap Social goes under, the County will own this. With the finally open CCPAC being such a success thus far, both Your Pie and Tap Social have the potential to succeed. Given the public “sharing” that the County ONLY reviews food/liquor sales if they are “alerted”, I wonder how many establishments are flying “under the radar” in both Columbia and Richmond Counties ??!!

Kudos to the County Commission for making a decision they may not have been popular with the minority in our county.

The Commission owned up to it’s duty.

There are plenty of solid eateries in Columbia County that are responsible in following this ordinance. To give this place a pass would be a slap in the face to legitimate concerns.

All they had to do was lower alcohol prices by 10% and they would have been in compliance going forward

If you want to go to a bar there are plenty right across the county line in Richmond county . If you don’t want to drive that far for fear of a dui take an Uber or l
Move to Richmond county :
This was an attempt to bring minority issues to the area and cause disruption in the county . It’s true you really can’t have anything nice there are always those who want to destroy it .

👏👏👏👏👏

Austin Rhodes had a good podcast on the issue:
https://wgac.com/episodes/stay-social-liquor-license/

I heard someone describe Renee as naive, and I think that sums her up well. She failed to ensure her ducks were in a row, despite having been told how the loan/grant worked, then tried to play the descrimination card when judgement day arrived. I’d go so far as to flip it around and question the highly coincidental timing in which she chose to begin offering drag shows.

Hats off to AP staff on covering all the issues of the Augusta area for us, and for all the bad puns in this editorial.

Augusta Richmond County Consolidation Government Commissioners could learn from Columbia County about how to run a county government.

Can’t we get some strip clubs over here in Col Co? Ones that serve alcohol? Nothing can go wrong with naked women and booze.

Congratulations to the Columbia County Commissioner’s for making the right decision

I am astounded this business owner couldn’t figure out a way to make the numbers (and alcohol/food sale ratio) work in her favor. The ordinance reads that 51% of REVENUE must be derived from food sales, not 51% of cost-of-goods-sold, not 51% of unit sales, not 51% of customers, etc. My solution would be every mixed drink would contain a garnish, which is typically a “food” (orange/lime slice, olives, etc) – the drink would be calculated as a $1 alcohol sale and the garnish would be an $8 food sale. Problem solved.

Great job CC Commission!

I think the attraction was the self serve alcohol wristband tech so you could sample beers from various regions at your own pace. Unlike World of Beer where u have to purchase a whole glass in order to try. Or a whole flight to go thru a few choices.

The judge that gave her back her liquor license should be removed from the bench, for sticking his personal opinion into the mix rather than the law.