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I would assume so, I attend a lot of City Hall meetings and I've heard similar, but often only hinted at, things all over, Certainly In Florida, as above, but also in Vermont (they love their regulations up there, and here in Kentucky. The guy who runs the Zoning board in Winchester owns three restaurants in that small town and shut down two requests for new diners in the town. "Too much traffic", code words for too much competition

Wow! I wonder if this sort of thing is happening everywhere and we just don't hear about it.