The Common Council’s updated certificate-of-use ordinance on businesses will not solve the issues it’s intended to. The ordinance did not solve the issues 11 years ago when it first passed, and it seems unlikely it will now.

In 2003, Syracuse lawmakers passed the ordinance, requiring business owners to apply for a certificate of use in order to open or maintain their businesses. These businesses were also penalized for violations, including illegal sale of alcoholic beverages or tobacco, noise control violations and fire and electrical code violations. This ordinance applied to all Syracuse bars, restaurants, drug stores and corner stores.

On March 31, the Common Council updated the ordinance to include hookah bars and smoke shops and also added on background checks of the owners. Now, individuals who have committed misdemeanor crimes within two years of the application or felony charges within five years will not receive a certificate of use.

Both the Common Council and Mayor Stephanie Miner said this update was to improve the quality of life, but ordinances against business owners are not the right move. While public safety is a convoluted issue with many factors, going after businesses is not necessarily the proper tactic. The addition of hookah bars and background checks under the revised ordinance hurt businesses and does little to solve public safety issues.

The need for updates to the ordinance shows that the rules established in 2003 were ineffective and that store owners were able to circumvent them. The new ordinance will be overseen by the Division of Code Enforcement, according to a March 31 press release from the mayor’s office. Though this may make it easier to enforce these regulations, it is still difficult to monitor.

The rules preventing former criminals from opening a business are also detrimental, as they prevent people trying to change their lives from moving forward. Discouraging this demographic harms both the chances of criminal reform and business growth in Syracuse.

To take on the issue of public safety, Syracuse lawmakers should be taking aim at institutional issues instead of targeting businesses.