There will be a special City Council meeting next Thursday to address the concerns of the downtown stakeholders and the violence that as occurred when the bars empty out at 2am. I mentioned over on the blog Left in Lowell that rolling back the closing time to 1am may curve the violence and the draining of our Lowell Police manpower. I also mentioned that the kids come in from the surrounding towns for that last hour of drinks because there towns close at 1am. So to answer Joe from Lowells question I called the surrounding towns Police Departments and here's what I've got.
Tewksbury 1am
Andover 1am
Methuen 1am
Pelham N.H.1am
Hudson N.H.1am
Haverhill Mon.-Thurs 1am Fri.2am Sat. 1am
I did not hear back from Dracut.
Is this a public safety issue? I believe it is.
Is this a quality of life issue? I believe it is.
I think 1AM is late enough... what is the point of the extra hour? Just so people can get even drunker than they already are? I think lives can be saved by having the bars close at 1:00AM vs. 2:00AM and it will prevent people from coming into the city from other places. The city's establishments don't need that extra one hour's worth of revenue. In fact, it puts the establishments more at risk. I'm all for rolling back the extra hour!
ReplyDeleteThe license commission must have their collective heads in the sand if they think outsiders would wait until the 1 am closing in the 'burbs before coming into the city. Good idea to make closing time a regional thing.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that could be done is to follow up on those violators who are being caught and make sure their punishment is severe and publicized so as to make others think twice before trashing the city.