In an effort to allow certain businesses to host late-night social events, Alderman Aubry Brent Jr. would like the city council to revisit its curfew ordinances.
During Monday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, Brent said he would put a motion in place during the next board meeting to allow businesses to remain open until 1 a.m.
“I don’t believe in making a motion on a controversial issue and expect you all to give a vote on it at that time,” Brent said. “I want to give you some time to think about it. Whether you vote up or down, it’s your vote.”
The current city ordinance states that businesses which sell alcoholic beverages must stop selling by midnight with everyone leaving the premises by 1 a.m. This ordinance applies to night clubs, commercial event centers and other venues.
Brent said he would like to allow these establishments to remain open until 1 a.m. with everyone leaving the property by 1:30 a.m.
“At our last town hall meeting, one concern that was repeatedly asked of me was the fairness of the closing time for nightclubs and other businesses that were affected by the midnight closing time,” Brent said. “State law says that all our businesses must stop selling alcohol at midnight. That is understood by the business owners.”
But Brent said the midnight curfew affects many social events, including class reunions and community functions.
“We are closing down class reunions in which individuals pay a lot of money to these establishments like The Manchester,” Brent said. “We had a class reunion where they had to pay $1,500 for the use of the building and at a quarter to 11 o’clock, blue lights were flashing outside to close them down.”
Brent said he simply wants to be fair in allowing certain establishments to operate past midnight.
“I want to be fair in the terms of letting them operate without having to shut down by the time business gets going,” Brent said.
Brent said many of the social events are not selling alcohol, but attendees are allowed to bring their libations.
“But some of these events, they bring their own libations,” he said. “They have social gatherings…that is not classified as a club.”
Brent said he understands why the city council implemented the city ordinance in the first place, reflecting on a time when there were repeated acts of violence at some of the night clubs.
“We had to cut down on the hours because we had three individuals die in one night with shootings at other locations,” Brent said. “I am sympathetic to those families who lost relatives. But I hate to see all other businesses suffer because of certain individuals.”
Brent also said he would be in favor of shutting down establishments that cannot remain open peacefully.
“When you start letting people get shot up in your establishment, I am going to be the first person to vote against it,” Brent said. “When you can’t keep your clientele inside the building instead of outside in their vehicles and out in the streets, blocking traffic, I am going to be the first person to vote against it.”
Brent said he doesn’t want to treat “grown-ups like little kids.”
“Young people today don’t go out until 11 o’clock,” Brent said. “I think we should be fair to all of our citizens. We took the action that we took because of the conduct of a few individuals at the time. The community cannot expect this board to sit and allow certain things to happen and not address it. And we did a good job addressing that with the curfews we put in.”
Brent said it is time for the community to move forward and be fair with certain establishments by allowing them to remain open until 1 a.m.
