Some common sense – Editorial

As businesses go, Chelsea’s Café is a hometown home run, yet some in government are sitting by while it struggles to stay alive.

Though the building brims with character, a series of businesses have ultimately withered there, including the Old Colonel’s Club and a culinary school.

Baton Rouge 30-something Dave Remmetter came along, taking a huge risk by moving his thriving campus-area business there when his established location was bulldozed to make way for a new development.

He’s on the premises daily, his kitchen serves affordable, gourmet Louisiana food, and he books excellent, diverse performers, including some of the most interesting and talented artists touring today. The result: Chelsea’s is wildly popular with 20- and 30-somethings, and is a gathering place of sorts for the creative class.

Yet overzealous, narrow-minded state regulators seem dead-set on killing it.

It took state District Judge Trudy White giving up the better part of a weekend scouring the laws to halt and undo unfair action taken by Murphy Painter and the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, which yanked Chelsea’s liquor license without due process.

The ATC, state and local officials better rethink their priorities and do whatever it takes to allow businesses like Chelsea’s to survive and prosper. Use common sense when evaluating laws. Take the lead on rezoning the land. Or simply stand up for an imperiled local businessman at public meetings and court hearings.