On February 22nd and later on March 8th, Ludington's city council approved the creation of a social district for the downtown area and expanded it.  The general idea  behind these areas are to make it easier for restaurants and bars to take advantage of public outdoor spaces for customers to social distance and drink from open containers purchased at their facility. 

This wasn't a knee-jerk response by city hall; the legislation that allows these districts was signed into law by Governor Whitmer in July 1st, 2020 and adopted shortly thereafter in many locations throughout Michigan as a response to allow bars and restaurants the ability to operate more normally in the midst of restrictions that allowed most downtown businesses to only offer curbside, to-go dining.  The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) explored social districts back in late June 2020, unanimously recommending the creation of one back at a special Zoom meeting of that body on June 26th (that wasn't noticed to the general public and thus in violation of the Open Meetings Act). 

The recommendation lingered for months as it was sent up to the Buildings & Licenses Standing Committee and floundered until the beginning of 2021 as they tepidly researched the issue.  Had they been more thorough in this research rather than concentrating primarily on anecdotes from other communities and not on how it would affect Ludington's overall situation, they may have come to a better conclusion.  Only Councilor Les Johnson, who owned a local party store, voted against it, stating that he wanted to help businesses, but didn't see anything positive in that regard, just like me.  

The DDA were hoping to get the social district underway by St. Patrick's Day, the first social drinking holiday of the year, but only one business had their license back from the state by then (four currently have their license).  They have put sidewalk signs on street corners defining the Ludington Outdoor Social District (LOSD), if you walk down South James or Rath Streets you're likely to see these at some point:

On entering the district, you see the orange logo telling you to find a cup, when you go back that way you are instructed to empty your cup since you're leaving the LOSD.  If you read further, you'll notice that the community development director's business (Safety Decals) is a 'sponsor' of the district, so at least her business is doing okay with this district.  If you wonder how this sticker is attached to the pavement in some sort of permanent way, it isn't, it can peel right off.  For those wanting to play with the 'social drinkers' all you have to do is lift them up and turn them 180 degrees.  

As noted, the district expanded from being primarily on South James Street and neighboring alleys to spread out onto Ludington Avenue by the second council meeting.  The weird shape of the modified social district is shown below, allowing LOSD drinkers to cross busy Ludington Avenue with their beverages without issue.

The two main problems with social districts is that they promote the public's perception that the local and state government is condoning drinking and wandering about, one could even say the sidewalk signs encourage people to drain their glass when they get out of the district.  Most people travel by vehicle, so if they order alcoholic beverages while waiting for a seat when only 25% of a restaurant/bar is open, they may give up and go elsewhere by walking or by car and have nothing to absorb the alcohol consumed, all while believing that their behavior is condoned with the LOSD.

The second problem is that the LOSD is nothing but a restriction on the rights of those drinking in Ludington from what they had before.  The State of Michigan has little to say about how cities restrict their citizens and retailers on the use of alcoholic beverages.  The main restriction is MCL 436.1915 which only restricts consuming alcohol on public highways (not carrying a glass on a crosswalk) and says alcohol:  "may be possessed or consumed in public parks, public places of amusement, or a publicly owned area not licensed to sell for consumption on the premises."  The only limit to this right is a local government unit restricting that use in certain public areas through the use of their municipal powers.  

When one looks through the Ludington city code and charter, one finds very little in terms of restrictions on drinking in public places.  The only public place where alcoholic beverages are prohibited are at cemeteries, at Cartier Park campground at certain times, and hard liquors at park grounds (beer and wine containers must be in containers less than two liters).

There exists no local or state laws that prohibit anybody from walking on the sidewalks and parks throughout town while imbibing a two liter bottle of your favorite wine or beer.  In a city that has placed a lot of restrictions on drinking outdoors, you may need social districts if your council is unwilling to change those restrictions to help their local bars/restaurant, but you won't need that in Ludington. 

Those expensive stickers on the sidewalk are useless, those expensive cups and cup stickers used are equally useless, those special $250 permits being sold by the state to allow restaurants/bars to join a social district is a useless expense.  These costs are borne by the downtown businesses who supposedly benefit from social districts, with that fee and licensing money going to the local and state government.  The LOSD bars and restaurants need to pass that cost to the public by making alcohol purchases more expensive to recover their losses due to these costs. 

Our well-paid public servants, especially that one who's making money by selling sidewalk stickers, tell us that this extra cost will not negatively affect sales, but if those bars in this district raise their drinks by a dollar, they will lose business over time when the public finds out they can get better deals from those outside the LOSD.  Especially if they figure out they can walk to almost any public area in town with their adult beverage.

Views: 1242

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Your right, FS, this entire promotion of a drinking zone is absolutely absurd. It's hard to believe that City Hall thinks this is a good idea.

Is there going to be an additional charge for one of these travelers beyond a charge for the contents or will they be free?

Will you be able to refill the cup from other sources other than licensed establishments? If so how will this be determined and enforced?

Will there be a ''black market'' for used cups recycled to underage drinkers?

Will it cause extra traffic issues with pedestrians stumbling into traffic?

Will the sellers and city have to carry additional liability insurance for any unforeseen accidents this might cause?

It would be legal to start drinking at 7am and having to stop at midnight. Should the siren also be sounded at these times as a curfew warning?

An end to rubberstamping?  I hope so.  I've been watching the Great RubberStamp from on high for more than a decade.  I hope so, but until the majority of residents rise up against the secret squirrel society, little will be changed, imo.  It does seem like there is more heat on the stupidity of the DDA recently.

Good questions shinblind. Good points Lake Lady.

You guys are all asking fair questions that should have been addressed before adoption of the social district, but let me defend city hall for a moment and say that the state legislators and governor really messed this legislation up by creating and marketing this series of bad ideas.  Same folks who allowed liquor stores to be an essential business and abortion to be an essential medical service, while calling many other safe and legit businesses and medical procedures as non-essential.

One thing I wonder about is how many people will be tempted to get that extra drink to go after the meal, take it outside, realize they can't go beyond a certain point, quaff it, then go to drive home before the effects kick in.  Or, if they are parked in the LOSD, taking it inside their car and getting nailed by the police if it's unsealed.  Consuming alcohol while in a motor vehicle is illegal in Michigan, whether the driver or passenger is drinking. State law requires that any open alcohol containers are stored in the trunk, so they are not at easy access to those inside the vehicle. 

  Are these cups special? or will they be just the ordinary Red Solo drink cup? I don't drink but if I did I sure wouldn't be paying a premium price for a Red Solo  cup of beer . I would bring my own beer and cup in a light weight tote and pour my own.  Or pick up a special " secondhand " cup to use.  Approve drinking on the sidewalks but ban weed business . 

The early chatter with the social districts in committees (June-July 2020) had one believe that each participating bar/restaurant would have their own specific plastic cup, so as to discourage one from getting a cup at one and going to another place.  The introduction of decals into the discussion was made later, probably as a new way for Safety Decals to make easy money by selling overpriced stickers.  DDA officials never miss an opportunity to discretely provide for themselves.   

Is it the Tourist Thing to do? The cups should be some kind of souvenir for $2.50. Wonder who is profiting off the cups? Just never ends.

RSS

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service