Breweries seeking a home in Charlotte will now get an opportunity to expand to new locations, and breweries looking to move to Charlotte will have an easier time of it, thanks to a text amendment to the zoning ordinance approved by the Charlotte City Council on Monday.
It was 10:30 a.m. in a cubicle on the eighth floor of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. So there was no beer. About 50 people work in the Charlotte planning department, but we specifically wanted to talk to the beer-lady: Bridget Dixon. We wanted to know why she worked for the department from 2003 to 2006, left, and then came back. And we wanted to talk about beer. Good beer.
"I had to fight for two months with the zoning people before they would even let me open my doors," Hogan said. "And, even then, I'm still not allowed to distribute."
Several weeks ago, I was one of six panelists at a collegial meeting with some very serious small-business owners in Dallas to share my views and to answer and discuss questions on the economy.