Three days of music? Why bother?

Many people expressed disappointment with the recent decision by Delaware Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner John Cordrey regarding outdoor music at the On The Rocks venue of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal. We agree.

After complaints from neighbors following a decidedly louder-than-usual 2013 season, Cordrey ruled that the venue can only have music three times a year - once at Memorial Day weekend, once on the July Fourth weekend and once on the Labor Day weekend. And no external speakers.

This is a perfect example of governmental overreach, and it draws into question a system giving one person the power of making all decisions regarding alcohol-serving establishments.

Not a committee of three or five who can bounce around solutions. One person. The system allows arbitrary decisions particularly susceptible to political pressure.

Cordrey’s solution allows three days of outdoor music until 11 p.m. That violates Lewes’s core value of busy days and quiet nights. Even ferry personnel proposed live music only between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. What’s the point of allowing the music to go later? None of this makes any sense.

Whatever happened to middle ground? The ferry’s proposed solution had already showcased a sensible way forward. Why not allow live acoustic music with minimal amplification for a voice or a guitar? Or unamplified steel drums, so appropriate for a beach resort setting?

And why not confirm the ferry’s commitment to keeping music directed away from neighboring residences?

That all makes sense. It would have allowed the venue to return to the tenor of previous years that didn’t raise neighborly ire, and would have satisfied far more people than a decision that simply moves alienation from one side of the court to the other.

This is a decision that deserved the far lighter touch that hallmarks enlightened government.