Expert: encouraging entertainment zone drinking is a dangerous idea for cities

 

Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Daniel Skiles, a policy consultant at the Institute for Public Strategies--a public health-focused advocacy organization--explains why entertainment zone boozing (as SJ has learned) is a recipe for trouble. 

A new CA state law authorizes the establishment of “entertainment zones,” as in SJ. As long as people purchase their libation at a nearby bar or restaurant, during a special event, people in these zones can legally stroll down the sidewalk while drinking.

But academics who have studied the increase in public, outdoor drinking sound a warning: Subsidizing public drinking may be a quick and dirty way to bring in some cash, but it has a steep downside, as SJ witnessed during the World Cup. The following from Daniel Skiles:

  • The impetus for changes to drinking laws came from the COVID-19 lockdown. Facing restrictions on indoor gatherings, small businesses like bars and restaurants struggled to stay open. To help them survive, many states rolled back alcohol regulations, allowing businesses to sell carry-out cocktails. 

  • Studies have shown that when an area has more alcohol establishments, it also sees increased levels of violence and disorder. According to a review of multiple research studies, availability of alcohol is what generates these kinds of problems. Thus, expanding public drinking can only make matters worse.

  • “Anytime you have alcohol concentrated in a small area, there will inevitably be more violence and crime, which has the potential of spilling over into neighboring communities,” says Toben Nelson, a University of Minnesota professor of epidemiology and community health.

  • And once crime takes hold, a nightmare scenario can follow. Fearing they may become victims, many people start avoiding the area, causing the non-alcohol-based businesses to lose their customer base. Then as trash, noise, public drunkenness and other nuisance-related activities escalate, the entire region is drawn into a downward spiral of urban blight and economic decline.

  • “When policymakers tout the economic benefits of public drinking, they are completely ignoring the costs, which far outweigh the benefits,” Nelson says.
    --Daniel Skiles, a policy consultant at the Institute for Public Strategies

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