I never thought I'd write these words

... but I think we need a businessperson to be the director of DC's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA).

DCRA is big and sprawling. It manages many of the regulatory functions of government from business licensing and alcoholic beverage sales to building inspections. Linda Argo has done a nice job of helping the agency get its house in order.

Now, I do think that the BLRA -- Building and Land Regulatory Administration -- including the Zoning Office should be merged with the Office of Planning. This happens in a lot of jurisdictions and I think it would make sense here.

That being said, more and more I write about one of the biggest problems within DC is that big government (the federal government) shapes how little government (the local government, in this case DC Government) thinks about and approaches the world. Just like surgeons think about the knife and cutting, people who work for DC Government, be they elected, appointed, or functionaries, think that the regulation is the answer to any and all problems.

I just read some proposed regulations on an area I work in and while I made some comments, I was mostly struck about how onerous they were in terms of making something that should be somewhat flexible and entrepreneurial very rigid and fixed.

Sitting on the board of Eastern Market, I know how unflexible it can be to try to manage a functioning business through a law. More and more we do make it hard for business to thrive.

Ryan Avent argues that regulatory burdens make entrepreneurial retail extremely difficult in DC, see his blog entry, "On Chains." I agree that it's bad, but it's not the primary reason (more about it later), although I have written about this in the past, in part citing this piece from the conservative Claremont Institute, "Lattes at the Regulatory Cafe." In short, larger organizations can direct resources to deal with the regulatory burden. Small and especially single proprietor businesses lack those kinds of "slack" resources. (For example, I know a guy who is the managing partner for many tavern establishments in the city. He has one person on his staff who only deals with DCRA and has built a relationship with the various people there over time. Another person on his staff deals only with the Office of Tax and Revenue with regard to sales tax and other taxing matters.)

Still, having a person understand that government is supposed to protect the consumer-resident-citizen at the same time that it creates a climate that supports business development and a livable city, likely means we need a different attitude about regulation being the first course of action, just like a surgeon always wants to operate, to cut.

I have no idea who such a person would be. The average small business entrepreneur lacks the experience to run a sprawling agency. Still, there might be someone out there.

(Note: that being said, I don't believe in gutting tenant-focused representation with regard to landlord-tenant matters, see "Rent Strike Ends At Historic Building" from the Post and "Officials Mum on Wiggins Firing; Nickles Promises Answers Will Come in Private Session" from the Washington City Paper about how a tenant-supportive government official lost her job, and a contractor providing information and representation services to tenants lost their contract.)