David Brauer said: Some want to limit 2 a.m. closings to downtown... question: does the new state law allow that? (I thought it was all or nothing, but perhaps cities get some discretion here.)
Jim McGuire responded: I don't know if it's allowed by the law or not, but it's a truly stupid idea. The last thing we want is people rushing to get downtown for "one last drink" at the later bar close. Linda says: The law gives the discretion to the municipalities. It would allow cities to rein in bars that get out of control. I know that in St Paul, the Half Time Rec causes the neighbors fits now, and some people don't want them staying open an hour later. The city could require that it continue to close at 1. Many bars, especially downtown hotel bars, told us they probably wouldn't stay open till 2 every night, probably just weekends or when there are big groups staying in their establishments. If the city council chose to, they could require problematic neighborhood bars to close at 1 Sunday through Thursday or some such other arrangement. I think, however, that we should remember that Minnesota is one of only four states in the nation that close bars before 2 AM. We should give it a try and deal with problems as they appear. One of our strongest arguments in the senate, which actually had the debate on this issue -- unlike the house, was the elimination of the "race to the borders" that goes on now, not unlike the race to the downtown area that would happen if only downtown got to stay open till 2. People may remember when the city tried to keep the downtown bars open till 3A just for food and nonalcoholic drinks. Partiers from around the region ended up on First Avenue and the police had quite a time. I believe all of the bars have turned back their 3AM licenses, mostly because it was causing trouble to have some open later than others, even if they didn't sell alcohol at that later time. Maybe one of the council members can update us on this. Another piece of the "omnibus liquor bill" you might be interested in is about brewpubs. You will be able to get returnable glass half-gallons to go, called growlers, of their various brews, starting August 1. It goes flat in a couple of days, but will be fun for beer aficionados. The growlers must be sealed and dated, and if you open them and carry them in your car, you can be pulled over for open bottle violation. PS: I was on several conference committees this year. Being on the conference committee for the liquor bill was a whole lot more fun than being on the Health and Human Services conference committee, even though we didn't get any samples! linda higgins near north TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
