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Montgomery City Council to ask Legislature to allow entertainment districts
Montgomery City Council to ask Legislature to allow entertainment districts
BY JILL NOLIN • NOVEMBER 18, 2009
The Montgomery City Council is asking the Alabama Legis lature to allow it to create city areas, called "entertainment districts," where people can le gally walk around with open containers of alcoholic beverages.
Not originally on the agenda Tuesday night, the resolution asking the Montgomery legisla tive delegation to sponsor a bill allowing the city to create the districts was introduced and passed unanimously. Mayor Todd Strange proposed the reso lution.
The resolution says that the city is "actively working to be an established destination and gathering place for tourism and entertainment" and that the en tertainment districts would "en courage economic, cultural and social life" in Montgomery.
The entertainment districts, meant to spur economic devel opment opportunities, are being considered for areas such as downtown, Old Cloverdale and EastChase, according to Strange.
Strange said the city would likely start with one district, but he said an actual area has not been determined at this time.
The City Council would pin point districts and define the boundaries of a district, and those areas would be carefully selected, Strange said.
Strange likened the districts to the new Entertainment Ex press trolley routes. If the trolley routes are successful, they will be expanded to other parts of the city. For now, the trolleys serve Old Cloverdale and Maxwell Air Force Base.
Currently, if someone buys an alcoholic drink at one busi ness, they cannot leave that business and go somewhere else with that drink. If they do, they are violating an Alabama Alco holic Beverage Control Board rule.
The City Council is asking the Legislature to give Mont gomery the ability to make ex ceptions to that rule.
This issue was brought to the city's attention because of the pub crawls in downtown Mont gomery and because of issues at businesses located in or near The Alley.
Dreamland Bar-B-Que, for example, was allowed to serve alcoholic drinks inside but not outside because The Alley is public property. The city made an arrangement with the business where it leases a portion of The Alley, enabling Dreamland to serve drinks outside.
Instead of "piece-mealing" the situation in this way, Strange said he wants to address the issue comprehensively.
Hence, the entertainment district concept, which would mean creating one large enter tainment area for consumers, Strange said.
"It's all about generating rev enue," Strange said after the meeting Tuesday.
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