The Town of Berlin is right to take a cautious approach to regulating tattoo shops.
After it was learned an entrepreneur was interested in conducting cosmetic tattooing in Berlin, the town drafted an emergency ordinance because there were no regulations in place governing the tattoo industry.
Critics of the ordinance, which requires a doctor or an osteopath be on hand at all times, maintain it’s “draconian” and will prevent any tattoo shops from opening in town. That could very well be the town’s intent with the ordinance. That was clearly the case when the Worcester County Commissioners and the Town of Ocean City passed similar ordinances in the late-90s.
Worcester County officials at that time didn’t want tattoo shops in the art-large portions of the county. Similarly, Ocean City officials were equally blunt the ordinance was passed to keep tattoo shops off the Boardwalk.
Whether Berlin needs to go that far to keep the tattoo industry at bay in the historic town is a big question the appointed committee will need to address over the next four months. To allow the committee time to get formed and evaluate possible alternatives to the ordinance on the table the town passed a 120-day moratorium preventing any sort of tattoo business from opening within town limits.
We like this week’s decision to table the emergency ordinance and give it serious deliberation. The moratorium was also needed to protect the process of evaluating it.
A little bit of acceptance and tolerance for disparate cultural views from both sides of this issue will be needed during this committee’s deliberations. As difficult as it might be for some to realize, there are many in Berlin who fear the ramifications of a tattoo operation on Main Street or its vicinity. Conversely, it needs to be understood there are common misperceptions that exist among the older generations about individuals, labeled as extremists, who choose to cover their bodies with tattoos.
Restraint to ridicule those with opposing viewpoints will be imperative for this process to be successful. That’s why a committee with diverse and rational representation to study the matter is a good idea. It should make for some lively discourse and in the end our hope is the spirit of compromise prevails.
The end result could be the ordinance on the table will carry a majority vote on the council. On the other hand, a tamer version of the current ordinance could be passed. Either way, the town was right to slow down the process and evaluate it further.
