I was raised in Minnesota, so I’ll always be fond of the North Star state. But for all its lakes and kindness – “Minnesota Nice” is truly a thing – there’s a vein of liberalism that runs deep and wide within the area. A new story about scooters and regulation demonstrates this widespread trend in Minnesota and nationwide.
The Star Tribune reports that rental scooters have rolled into the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) and regulators are trying to keep up. According to the story, a handful of electric scooters were dropped into the area via Bird Rides Inc., a California-based company. Apparently the scooters “appeared [Tuesday] the morning a Minneapolis City Council committee got its first look at a proposed ordinance that would require companies to obtain a license to operate motorized scooters in the city.”
Instead of expressing childlike delight over this development or ignoring the scooters altogether, the cities got worried and decided they must immediately regulate the dangerous, annoying device. Lisa Hiebert, spokesperson for St. Paul’s Public Works Department, said the scooters were a surprise. “They did not go through the proper channels to get a permit,” she said. How dare a scooter company bring business to an area that was deemed to be the “fittest” in the country sans permit?
Not only did St. Paul want a permit, but now they don’t want the scooters at all until they can figure out how to be the boss of them. “Hiebert’s department asked Bird to remove their scooters from the city’s public right of way, essentially areas designated for travel, until the city can create a ‘framework’ for them. The city said the company violated city ordinance that requires a permit for use of public space.” The Twin Cities aren’t the first areas to deal with the, umm, onslaught of scooters – Austin, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. have all panicked at the sight of a bevy of young folks buzzing around sidewalks, bike lanes, and streets on a device that hasn’t yet been regulated.
While this isn’t even close to the worst example of government regulations gone awry – neither the business nor the people will be all that adversely affected in this case – it’s just a silly use of time and a gross overreach of power. However, all that absurdity does add up: Last year Washington, D.C. bureaucrats decided to place strict regulations on child care employees, requiring them to have college degrees. Even The Atlantic argued this would place an undue burden on childcare workers and widen the economic disparity in the city.
Too many regulations unfairly burden both the free market and the companies trying to operate within it, and the people attempting to enjoy various products or lifestyles. The Twin Cities needs to relax and combine their usual niceties with their reputation of being fit and cool.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
