Group opposes alcohol sales in city parks

A group of volunteer advisers has taken issue with a proposal to allow alcohol sales in city parks.

Columbia’s Substance Abuse Advisory Commission has been discussing a proposal that would permit special-occasion sales of beer, wine and champagne in city parks. For example, sales would be permitted at events like Art in the Park at Stephens Lake Park. The Parks and Recreation department presented the idea to the City Council in May. The council then forwarded the draft proposal to the Parks and Recreation Commission, another group of volunteer advisers, for review and recommendations. Although the council did not forward the proposal to SAAC for review, the group started talking about possible changes to the proposal at its June 13 meeting. According to Dan Vinson, chairman of SAAC, the committee was divided on the issue.

“There are some members of the commission that are concerned that every step taken to make alcohol more available could increase problems for some people, and the other half (of the commission) see it as a business issue,” Vinson said.

The concern is that if the proposal is accepted as is, it could contribute to the lack of control over how much alcohol is consumed.

Currently, alcohol consumption is allowed in city parks as long as people bring their own drinks.

“I don’t have any doubt it (the proposal) will increase the amount of alcohol consumed. The more you make it available, the more people will drink it,” Vinson said. “Once it leaves the vendor, no one has any control over who drinks it.”

After much deliberation, the commission decided to write the council with suggestions to make potential alcohol vendors jump through some hoops — for instance, by training them to recognize fake IDs and limit them to selling no more than one drink per person.

Vinson said these suggestions are necessary to help keep the community safe.

“It’s time for society to have reasonable common-sense policies to save lives,” he said.

Becky Markt, of the Youth Community Coalition, said one major concern is the effect alcohol sales would have on Columbia’s impressionable youth.

“This would just be offering another outlet, and it is in a public setting,” Markt said. “This (proposal) says there is no way to have fun without alcohol, and this is just one more way of telling the youth that alcohol has to be a part of our life.”

But Mayor Darwin Hindman doesn’t think that legalizing alcohol sales in parks is out of line.

“It’s going to be a very controlled situation,” Hindman said. “I was very pleased with the draft, but if someone has suggestions, I would welcome that.”

The proposal would allow special-occasion sales of beer, wine, and champagne in city parks by not-for-profit vendors. The city will have to issue an “event alcohol sales permit” to those who apply at least 15 days in advance and agree to pay 10 percent of gross alcohol sales, or a base fee of $100.

Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hood said he anticipated that not everybody would agree with the proposal as it is.

“We were directed to develop a policy that would be effective,” Hood said. “There certainly could be additional conditions applied, but that is a decision for the community and council to make.”

Markt said there are stipulations for alcohol sales in the current proposal, and they are better than nothing, but her group would rather keep alcohol out of city parks.

“I would agree they have done a lot of work to keep it as controlled as possible, but none of that controls the overall impression on the youth,” she said. “We would just rather not have sales allowed at all.”

The Parks and Recreation Commission decided at its meeting last night to hold a public hearing concerning the draft at their July meeting.