UP FRONT
You Can
Prevent Some Legislation
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Th e coin-op industry is b o mbarded b y regulations. Many
of th ese laws are absurd_, and are pro p osed an d passed by
p e ople who do not know t h e industry. Ho w ever_, some
regulations could have b een pre ve n ted. Yo u ca n p reven t
pro ble m s b e fore th ey becom e laws.
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Here 's an example of an absurd regulation and
how it could have been checked. The name of the town
and people involved is unimportant, but their situation
presents a lesson to arcade operators in every town and
city .
A law banning video games was presented at a
board of trustees meeting . The public hearing brought
comp laints from residents saying there were disruptive
and shady happeni ngs in the area surrounding an
arcade which opened only two months earlier. But,
concerned citizens admitted that they had no com-
plaints about the arcade's " interior" business.
After hearing the residents , board members
became concerned about the "shady" activities and
unanimously denied the owner a license . The arcade
owner met with the administrator to present proposals
to alleviate the undesired activities-but to no avail.
" I have no reason to change the board 's decision,"
the administrator claimed. " The problem is not inside
the building , but the surrounding area ."
Though thi story is sad, and the re will be o ne less
arcade in that state, a lesson can be learned-some-
thing constructive can be gotten from the denial.
The arcade's problem concerned loiteri~g , bikes
prawled over t he sidewalk, smoking in back of the
building, trash thrown around the grounds, and more .
The owner presented remedies to these problems such
as closing at 10:30 p.m ., hiring security guards, pro-
hibiti ng loiteri ng, insta ll ing lighting in the rear of the
buildi ng, enforcing a dress code, and working with
those w ho made complaints.
Unfortu nately, this arcade operator should have
foreseen nearly all of these prob lems . All the plans he
presented to the board obviously did not sway the
deci ion in his favor . But , the problems should have
been worked out before they had time to get so bad ,
before they would be used against him .
Bad impression die hard , if they die at all . Some
ci ti s still have vivid recollections of bad experiences
with arcades from years ago.
This strike against the coi n-o p industry should
concern you. Sure, it ' not your responsibility toke p
parking lots clean , or be responsible for kids outside
your arcade . But you can be sure that bad feeling s from
neighbors against your arcade will mount if you don 't
pay close attention to what 's going on outside your
business.
Keep in mind that more people in the community
are probably going to see your business from the
outside than the inside . It doesn ' t matter if you have a
million dollar interior. If kids are loitering, smoking,
and throwing tra sh in the surroundi ng area , that
million dollar interior won ' t sway the city counci l in
your favor at license tim .
People in thi industry alway have to fight image
problem s. For instance , another city council felt that
" pinball games, the predec s or of video , acted like a
magnet for organized crime and barroom brawl s," and
it refu sed to let the machin sin th e city .
Learn from experiences of oth rs, and foresee
your problems. It's a lot easier to he ad off situations
before they become problems than to try and co nvin e
your co mmunit y that you will eliminate an established
problem .
Too man y times there i no uch thin g as a second
chan ce .
~~~
Valerie Cognevich
Editorial Director
6
PLAY MffiR. October 15. 1983