Banning happy hour won’t hurt just thirsty New Yorkers — it’ll dry out the bottom line of city businesses, a top councilman said yesterday.
“First, government fines businesses to death. Then, it wants to tell them how much to pay workers. Now, how much they can charge and when,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., a Democrat from Queens.
“They might as well just hand out ‘going out of business’ signs.”
The Post reported yesterday that Health Department czar Thomas Farley is mulling an all-out ban on happy hour, in line with his “Take Care New York 2012” report, in which he aims to “reduce risky alcohol use.”
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday insisted no ban is on tap.
“The Health Department has no plans. We told them we have no plans,” Bloomberg said.
New York already has some of the country’s toughest bans on trans-fats and smoking.
Nineteen nanny states currently prohibit happy hour.
But another source in the administration told The Post yesterday that Bloomberg was miffed because he hadn’t yet been briefed on the plan.
“It’s possible that the mayor wasn’t brought on board yet,” the source said.