Ala. (WALA) – City Council members on Tuesday expressed support for a proposal to expand the downtown entertainment districts, but some voiced concerns over lax enforcement of the rules regarding alcohol outside
Within the districts, people are allowed to take alcoholic drinks outside bars and restaurants, provided they use designated plastic or paper cups with the LoDa logo or from the business. Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis’ administration has proposed extending that to include the Regions Arena.
“The scene that I think we all aspire to have is one where you can go catch a drink or a meal before your performance, and then go catch your monster truck race, your – you know – ice skating, your concert, and do it in a safe, family-friendly way,” said Fred Rendfrey, president and CEO of the Downtown Mobile Alliance.
In addition to the arena, the entertainment district boundaries would include the sidewalks on both sides of Spanish Plaza, but not the park itself. A different district in another part of downtown would expand slightly to include a property where developers plan to build a restaurant and Deerfish Distilling Co. on Government and South Bayou streets.
Cheriogotis said after Tuesday’s council meeting that there are reasons to include the arena beyond connecting it to the nearby bars and restaurants.
“We’re gonna have a great lawn out there once this arena is open,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunity for outdoor events and things that might not be possible without this entertainment district overlay.”
Councilman Josh Woods said the rationale for the entertainment district is to attract customers downtown. But he said that is undermined by behavior he has witnessed in recent months.
“There’s people walking around with open containers, possibly coming over with open containers they made somewhere else, and that’s not what the purpose of the entertainment district is,” he said.
Cheriogotis agreed.
“We don’t want it to be a BYOB party,” he said. “That’s not why it was created. We want to make sure that this is supporting the businesses in the entertainment district.”
Some council members discussed the need for better enforcement of the rule requiring designated cups.
“Whatever level of attention there is on it now, I think we could use more attention on that,” the mayor said.
Rendfrey told FOX10 News that steps have been taken to cut down on illegal activity, such as banning parking on Dauphin Street during LoDa ArtWalk events to prevent people from having drinking parties out of their car trunks. But he added that the entertainment district concept has been a success.
“It’s important to the licensees,” he said. “It’s important to the vibes downtown. … It certainly requires a lot of management.”
A vote could come as early as next week.
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