UNDEVELOPED SENSE OF CONSEQUENCE - New Orleans brings back public drinking from bottles and cans

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Current News : One Thread

Dallas Morning News

Saturday | July 14, 2001

New Orleans repeal uncorks worries

Path cleared for open bottles, cans of alcohol

07/15/2001

By Laura Heinauer / The Dallas Morning News

In New Orleans, when boozing on Bourbon Street gets easier, Dr. Norman McSwain's job gets harder, he says.

"You couldn't do something much stupider than this," the trauma surgeon said of the City Council's decision last week to repeal its already minimal restrictions on public alcohol consumption.

Drinking from plastic cups has long been permitted in the club-filled French Quarter. The council's vote now clears the way for legal public drinking of hard liquor, wine or beer from bottles and cans.

To Dr. McSwain, bar owners and others, the potential for trouble in the Big Easy has just shot up.

"I don't even want to try and imagine what the consequences will be," said Dr. McSwain, who works in a local hospital. "The French Quarter is dangerous enough the way it is."

Backers of the change said police were using the law – which banned carrying any beverage in an open metal or glass container – as an excuse to stop and search blacks. Nearly 80 percent of those charged with violating the ordinance are black, according to a study released last month by Mayor Marc Morial's office.

The push to dump the 29-year-old law began in earnest in November after four New Orleans police officers fatally shot a black man stopped for having an open can of beer. Police said the man brandished a gun, but family members said he was unarmed. A grand jury did not indict the officers.

Council member Troy Carter said the repeal should take away the threat of police unfairly targeting minorities. "It is a law that does not serve the people of New Orleans," he said.

Many business owners said they understood why the council acted against the law but said they were concerned for their customers' safety.

"This place will look like a hurricane just hit the next time a big party comes to town," said Sal Impastato, owner of the Napoleon House, a French Quarter landmark. Mr. Impastato remembers the mayhem that glass bottles caused in the 1970s and said he's fearful that could happen again.

"Everyone had this inexpensive wine, and they'd just chuck the bottles on the street. By the end of the day glass was standing 2 feet high," he said.

The change does not affect the part the law that prohibits bars from knowingly allowing patrons to leave the premises with glass or metal containers. That means the common French Quarter practice of providing plastic cups for exiting customers should still continue, said Eric Granderson, a spokesman for Mr. Carter.

But many bar owners, including Steven Latter, the owner of Tujaques Restaurant, said there's been confusion about how far they can go in stopping those wanting to head out onto the street with an open container. "I thought we could just let them walk on out of here," Mr. Latter said.

Some would prefer that the city not allow open drinking from metal and glass containers. "When you get to know how people act when they drink, you get afraid of what they'll do," Mr. Impastato said. "I'll be glad when they get their heads on right and repeal that repeal."

New Orleans has always been a mecca for drinkers, and it took city cleanup crews three days to recover after this year's Mardi Gras, said sanitation department Director Lynn Wiltz. Now, in part because of the new law, her crews are bracing for an increase in trash at big events.

Their next major test: the Southern Decadence Festival over Labor Day, which usually draws about 100,000 people.

"For now our attitude is wait and see," Ms. Wiltz said. "If we have a big problem we got back to the City Council and ask them do something else."

Bourbocam

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ