What is going on in Chicago?
Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | Sports
This could be the year for the Cubs and Mayor Daley is worried about the bars. What is going on in Chicago? In 2005 when the White Sox won the city was fine. With so many problems in the city of Chicago you would think Daley would have better things to worry about. The article below is a must read. – Mark -ticket chest blog
Bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field that ignore the city’s call to voluntarily cut off liquor sales after the seventh inning could face a dire alternative: Area residents could vote them dry, Mayor Daley warned Tuesday.
One day after bar owners reacted angrily to the city’s proposal, Daley defended it as “common sense.” He argued that Cubs fans who’ve been drinking up until the seventh-inning stretch of potential title-clinching games need, what he called, “some smoothing time” before the celebration begins in earnest.
“This is about the Cubs. This is about where they worked so hard all year to get to. This is not about a lot of fans and a lot of drinking. We don’t want to see any incident outside, because if there is, that whole area will be voted dry tomorrow. Those citizens will get together and say, ‘I’m gonna vote every precinct dry. I’ll even vote Cubs Field dry,” Daley said.
“They’re gonna have their reveille in the street. But, I don’t want first responders hurt. I don’t want any citizen hurt. I don’t want to see an ambulance trying to drive down the street loaded with people,” said the mayor. “We don’t need your cameras up there showing people getting injured. They’re gonna win it on the field and not on the street. You can drink as much beer for seven innings as you want. Give me a break.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that bars and restaurants surrounding Wrigley would be asked to voluntarily stop serving alcohol after the seventh-inning stretch — just as they do inside the ballpark — to prevent Cubs playoff celebrations from turning ugly.
The proposed sevenh-inning cut-off would apply only to potential title-clinching games and last until the game is over. It would affect roughly 40 establishments on Sheffield between Newport and Irving; on Clark from Irving Park to Newport and on Addison from Wilton to Racine.
Bar owners reacted angrily, arguing that customers who don’t get served will get up and leave and never come back.
Daley was not sympathetic.
“Then I’ll have someone buy their place tomorrow. It’s not gonna cost ’em any business. They made enough money all year. I’m sorry. We’re just talking about common sense. That’s all this is. Because I’ll tell you one thing — if that community sees something they don’t like, they will not have a bar. They will not have a liquor license. They will vote it completely dry,” the mayor said.
Despite the mayor’s vigorous defense, local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has not yet signed on to Daley’s proposal. Tunney, owner of Ann Sather’s restaurants and a former liquor license holder, said bar owners need to have their say at a meeting Monday.
“I’m concerned that there’s a precedent here that needs to be thought out. On any given special event, the city could come in and restrict liquor sales for public safety reasons. This throws a new wrinkle on a way to manage this and a concern that this could be used at a moment’s notice. There will be a concern about having an ever- widening scale of prohibition,” Tunney said.
“The first blush is, ‘Oh, my God. This is ridiculous. As a business operator, I know how to handle crowds.’ If I step back, count for 10 seconds, sleep on it, maybe we can tweak it and make it even better for the city and the community. I think we’ll get some movement from both sides.”
Tunney said the Daley administration initially wanted the seventh- inning cut-off to apply to all playoff games, not just potential title clinchers. They also wanted to implement it last weekend, when the Cubs clinched the Central Division championship.
“I said there wasn’t enough notice,” he said.
–FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter – Chicago Sun Times
1 Comment to What is going on in Chicago?
I agree this is crazy bar owners and Cubs fans need to fight this.
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09/25/2008