Vancouver becoming the no-fun city again???
 

have you heard about this? :shrug: :hell:

No-fun closing times are turning the clock back towards Hicksville
The Province
Monday, March 24, 2008
Page: A16
Section: Editorial
Byline: Jack Keating
Source: The Province

Vancouver's no-fun bureaucrats are at it again.

Vancouver has quietly adopted a policy where senior bureaucrats -- and it's these folks who really run the city -- have decided most restaurants, bar and grills, cafe/lounges and pubs that serve beer, wine and spirits will have to close at midnight, even on Friday and Saturday nights.

That's right. The bureaucrats want everyone to stop having fun and go home at midnight. What a sham!

The city wants to turn Commercial Drive, Main and Cambie streets, Broadway, West 4th and other areas into ghost towns at midnight.

Imagine telling someone from Montreal, Toronto, New York, Europe, Australia -- or even Calgary or Seattle, for that matter -- that you can't get a glass of wine or beer, or listen to live music after midnight in most areas of the city.

The reaction would be disbelief. And this in a city that is practically begging tourists to visit.

The law in B.C. says you can legally drink until 4 a.m. -- something Vancouver's chief license inspector, Paul Teichroeb, readily admits.

But Vancouver's bureaucrats and politicians have arbitrarily deemed midnight as closing time in all but the entertainment district downtown.

This march toward Hicksville actually began 30 months ago under the guise of pretending to liberalize the city's archaic drinking bylaws.

With the most restrictive drinking laws of any major city in the western world, Vancouver was dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century in 2003 when it was revealed city officials were strictly enforcing a bylaw that banned dancing in restaurants and more than two musicians on stage.

Several popular restaurants on Main and Commercial were actually threatened with $2,000 fines and possible closure for violating the bylaw.

There was outrage.

Mayor Larry Campbell termed the bylaw "absolutely ludicrous" and "nutso," while Coun. Jim Green said the city had become "a laughingstock" over the issue.

But in taking one step forward -- allowing live music and dancing -- the city has taken two steps back by forcing establishments to close one or two hours earlier than before.

The same bureaucrats who were given the task of liberalizing antiquated bylaws have actually turned the clock back.

Owners are opposed to the ridiculously early closing times. But they have to agree to them, as it's the only way they'll get a business licence to open and operate.

Even nightclubs and cabarets, which for decades were allowed to stay open until 2 a.m., are being ordered to close at midnight. Some after much haggling with the city's bureaucracy, are granted a one-hour extension until 1 a.m.

Unbelievable.

These latest edicts are reminiscent of the hare-brained, anti-fun decisions of the '80s and '90s that got Vancouver branded a "no fun" city in the first place.

This backward/backwater policy must change.

jkeating@png.canwest.com

What ties do they have to those businesses?

This city could be so great if it wasn't for all the dumb bylaws...

Vancouver was a no fun zone a long time ago. I have had more fun in a village in Croatia than I've ever had here...its quite sad that senile people pass dictatorial neocon bylaws at their own discretion.

What the fuck?

I like your thinking!

And lower the drinking age and legalize marijuana while they're at it ...

This is ridiculous. Is this actually set to go into effect at some point or just being discussed? If I was one of the mayoral candidates in the upcoming election I would make quashing this policy part of my platform. You'd immediate win over the younger voters. The stupid thing about keeping the entertainment district open longer than everywhere else is that so many of the Granville crowd are suburbanites. The city is shafting its own residents who generally try to avoid the genericness of Granville, while the good times can keep rolling for the unappreciative suburban skanks and chaches... and gang members.

^Totally agree.

In addition, if this went into effect, Granville Street would likely be flooded with even more people once everywhere else closes at midnight. They already have enough problems with overcrowding leading to fights etc. Is potentially doubling the number of people on the street going to be helpful? They would have to close the street to traffic every weekend night and there would need to be more establishments opened otherwise Granville Street is going to be one big no-fun line up of people all night. It pretty much already is.

How do we change this? Are these bureaucrats people we can vote in and out? Can we get a petition going? Surely the majority of young people in this city won't stand for this. What's next, curfews?

Word.

Forcing bars and restaurants to close at midnight? This is the first I've heard of this. World class city? What a joke. This makes even less sense given that all of the surrounding municipalities permit bars and restaurants to remain open until 2 AM.

You do realize the polictians are doing this because it is want the general public wants. I don't agree with all of it either but I can understand why they're doing it. The fact is these young people you speak of are a vast minority most of which do not even vote.
I think midnight is too early but I can understand wanting to reduce the hours in places like commercial drive, it's mostly residential and not fair to the residents living there to be woken up at 4am by drunks. This isn't Nimbism it's common courtesy. Also the idea of concentrating the drinking in an entertainment area isn't such a bad one, while it obvious attracts trouble, it is still easier to manage one large area then several smaller ones scattered across the area.
Besides this isn't only a City of Vancouver issue I don't beleive any of the neighbouring cities use the extended hours do they?

When I lived near Commercial I thought everything closed up a little early as it was. I didn't always want to have to go downtown just so I could stay out a little later. But midnight? That's crazy.

All this will do is encourage people to open more illegal after-hours. Does the city really think by legislating fun that people will just stop having fun when it's out of hours?
Oh, and the other side-effect will be that loads of bars and clubs will go bankrupt because they can't make enough money from opening time until midnight to cover their costs. Or they will charge entry fees to bars and hike the price of meals and drinks.

Can you imagine what will happen in 2010? It will just excacerbate the stereotype that is out there of Canadians being boring and not knowing how to have fun (I know all of my friends laughed at me when I told them I was moving from London to Canada...they all did the "banjo dance" and called Vancouver the Wild Wild West)

If this shitty bylaw manages to stick around untill 2010 (which I pray it doesn't) They'd better at least temporarily repeal it for the games. Some events can go quite late and people coming back to the city from whistler may just want to party it up a little on the way home.

You mean I won't be able to sit in a downtown hotel lounge 'till 2:00 am?

And Vancouver is expanding its trade and convention centre with many of these delegates, notwithstanding tourists, also attending hotel lounges/bars/clubs 'till 2:00 am on Fridays/Saturdays!

Absolutely bizarre public policy!

Well, with Vancouver reverting to its no-fun status, perhaps some other city or jurisdiction will rise to the occasion to become vice central in the Lower Mainland? Any nearby islands looking for a bit of late-night debauchery and gambling?

That's probably exactly what they'll do. Like everything else, hide and fake it when the big spotlight is on.

The ties are simply this: they want to make themselves look good. In the 90's city planners came up with an idea of creating an "entertainment district" to help revitalize Granville street AND to push bars and restaurants out of newly planned residential neighborhoods in and around the downtown core. Those who saw the writing on the wall AND had the funds, moved their businesses onto the Granville strip. Those others, who are less fortunate are met with constant police and city harassment to "encourage" them to leave.