DC Bars to serve alcohol until 5 AM around Inauguration Day under emergency legislation

[Burma Jones]

Under emergency legislation approved by the D.C. Council yesterday, any District establishment with a liquor license, including restaurants and nightclubs, will be allowed to serve alcohol until 5 a.m. -- three hours later than usual -- and serve food round-the-clock from Jan. 17 until the morning after Obama's swearing-in on Jan. 20.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120203063.html?hpid=artslot

[blm]

1. Bad idea.

.

[qanda]

2. Very bad idea

[w4rma]

4. Fantastic idea. ;) (nt)

[tekisui]

6. What's a few million drunks in an overcrowded city

going to hurt drinking till 5AM? :sarcasm:

[dmallind]

12. Why would it be more than happens at 1AM now?

Sure there will be more violence in this period than normal, but that will be ebcause of maillions of new partygoers.

But why would it be different if that same number had to stop boozing at 1AM? You'd have to posit a group of people who doesn't decide to get drunk until after 1 and finds out they can this time,or a group who simply does not have the time to get drunk before 1AM and needs an extra few hours of chugging shots and swilling pitchers to make it happen.

Anyone stupid enough to be in the first group is likely stupid enough to be a problem anyway. Anyone with the tolerance to be in the second group is likely to be so iron-bellied a lush that they can never get drunk (oir sober) in the first place.

[atimetocome]

7. Pass the Kool-Aid.

[dmallind]

9. Not really

Changes in licensing hours just push the partying types to come out later.

I just moved form a 1AM close state to a 4AM close state. Instead of getting busy after 9 or so, the amateurs here just come out at 11.30 instead.

Anybody who wants to get shit faced can just as easily do it by 1AM as they can at 5AM, and anyone who simply out of lack of willpower continues drinking from 1 when they normally would have stopped to 5 when they have to now is only going to be just that much more incapacitated. There is no likely scenario that would dictate a 1AM sober person becoming a 5AM drunk person, just 1AM drunks becoming 5AM drunks.

Purely personally I LOVE 3 or 4 or 5AM closes because it means I can get out of the damn bar in plenty of time before the Jaeger-chugging fratboy morons and woo-girl floozies start cluttering up the place and making it too noisy and uncomfortable and ruining the service and ambiance. That of course is not all that relevant.

Oh and I do know this is anecdotal, but all studies I've ever seen that demonstrate an increase in DUI etc changing with later closing hours (every single one from a pressure group) makes one of two mistakes. They either compare (in this case) circa 5AM drunk arrests with 5AM drunk arrests before the change (not 1AM like they should) or they fail to correct for changes in police patrol patterns which tend to coincide with such changes, in effect making it look like there are more drunks now, instead of just the cops finding more drunks because they are looking more intently.

[Cleita]

11. Well Las Vegas operates 24/7 and they seem to keep things under

control, but they do have state of the art security in all the hotels and casinos.

[dmallind]

13. Exactly. Good point.

Hell I gew up in England with a 10.30PM close for pubs and there was a crapload more violence there than here. Just people started drinking at 6 or so instead of waiting till after midnight like the party crowd does here.


Drunks will get drunk. Giving non-drunks four more hours to do so, in the middle of the night, is unlikely to turn a significant number into drunks.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

18. The later closing times are a lot safer for the roads, too.

The drunks are on the road after 2am, when there is little traffic.

[tcfrogs]

15. There's not a lot of driving going on in Vegas

I suspect there'll be more in D.C.

[Cleita]

17. The point is that they need to plan for all this. I mean even not

extending bar hours, there is still going to be what amounts to the population of Los Angeles County (5 million people) descend on a much smaller city. I hope that there is more security planning than Wal-Mart had for Black Friday. Maybe they need to have free bus fare that day and put all the buses out with security guards to handle drunks so that fewer people drive.

[blm]

14. Hey...I've shown up at many an afterhours club, myself....whatever happens THIS PARTICULAR NIGHT

will become an albatross hung around the neck of the Dems.

My dancing till 7 AM at Hellhole back in the day wouldn't cause GOP operatives to set up a bit of chaos - a Dem inauguration would.

[dmallind]

28. Well sure in that sense true, but there's nothing that can stop that

There will be literally millions of people in a good mood. They could close the bars entirely and there is going to be more rowdiness than usual.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. We do it in New Orleans every night, I don't see the problem

[blm]

19. DC doesn't. It's NOT New Orleans, Vegas, or NYC. It's the center of GOVERNMENT and that night is

Inauguration of a Democratic President. What happens that night will be hung around Democrats every day till Nov2010.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. You're telling me that keeping the bars open till 5am will cause us to lose the 2010 elections?

Do you think before posting?

[MiniMe]

22. I'm not who you are responding to, but the problem I can see is that some

people will stay in the bars to get a place along the inaugural route early. That's a lot of drunks on the parade route, and a potential for a problem developing.

[Hippo_Tron]

23. Okay so there's an incident involving roudy drunks...

How does that relate to the 2010 elections? It will be a side story on the cable networks for a day or so and nobody will remember in a week let alone by 2010.

[blm]

25. What happens in DC that night will be SPUN - how long did Clintons trashed WH story last?

It was a CONCOCTED STORY by Rove and his minions, yet it was used for over 8 months to tarnish the outgoing administration and bolster the incoming Bush administration.

If you think that nothing can happen from bars being kept open (in a town that already has a high crime rate) especially FOR Obama's Inauguration that can be spun and hung around Dems, then you don't know who STILL controls corporate media.

[MiniMe]

27. It's still being spun

[Cleita]

3. So many drunks at 5:00am. Oh dear!

On the other hand, they will probably go back to hotel rooms and drink any way. I don't think anyone can stop this party. I just hope they have plenty of security to control any outbreaks of violence.

[frebrd]

5. If anything, they should close them up earlier. n/t

[ecstatic]

8. Not everyone will become drunk just because the time has

been extended. Some people...actually many people... drink responsibly. This change will give them more options of where to go to celebrate.

[monmouth]

10. This will not end well...n/t

[zorahopkins]

21. Not All, Actually

Not all the restaurants, nightclubs, and bars *ill be allo*ed to serve alcohol until 5:00 a.m., despite *hat the DC Council has done.

Many bars, restaurants, and nightclubs will be required, because of agreements *ith their landlords or agreements *ith residents in their neighborhoods, to stop serving alcohol earlier than 5:00.

Note: Because of the continued illegal occupation of OUR *hite House by the illegal and totally corrupt Bush/Cheney regime of thugs and cronies, I REFUSE to use the letter bet*een "V" and "X".

[Mike Daniels]

24. Yep. A good portion of the bars in DC are situated in residential areas

There are very few "entertainment districts" in DC where the majority of the surrounding real estate is business vs. residential.

ANC's like Adams Morgan, U Street, etc. are unhappy that the board made this arbitrary vote w/out their input. They have enough problems with the normal foot traffic on weekends going and coming from bars. I have a feeling they aren't that thrilled with the idea of a bunch of out of towners raising hell past 5 a.m. when they're trying to get some sleep.

I'd be surprised if many bars outside of hotel bars and those in the Gallery Place area and the commerical area between K Street and Dupont stay open past their normal hours.

[justabob]

26. very bad idea

I can only imagine what kind of trouble that will cause.