Finally, an opportunity to make a difference about the criticisms that downtown is all bars. Monday night a report by our administration goes to council and if we speak up we can make positive change and ask that bars not be allowed to operate between 3 and 5 am. We can put an end to destructive after hours bars like they did in Kitchener. Anyone who truly wants to make changes should register to speak at city council on Monday night or express your opinion to your councillor. Your councillors will listen if they see you thereI have been calling for an end to after hour’s bars and massage parlours to be zoned out of downtown for years. Our licensing department and our city leaders have not thought to date that these changes are warranted. Below is a letter that details the complaints about lack of transparency and being shut out of the process that Larry Horwitz and I faced when we tried to lobby for these changes. We were denied the input into this report that we were promised and we were individually told to leave the meeting. A meeting where the licencing committee comprised of Councillor Ron Jones and Jo anne Gignac became party to this flawed report.
First, we hear that downtown is dangerous, that is not the whole truth. The whole truth is that when we read and hear about shootings and knifings over 90% take place after 3am. The whole truth is that two of these shootings happened outside the same after hours club on the corner of Pelissier and Wyandotte. I am absolutely dumbfounded that the police have not called for these establishments to be closed down. We all know that policing costs are high downtown and this is one way to reduce them. If you claim to care about high taxes then here is another way to control city costs. I respectfully question the reasoning behind our police’s silence over this issue and whether there has been pressure to not rock the boat.
Secondly, if you want to lure retail downtown you need a buffer between the day time and a night time clientele. The term mixed use is not proper to describe the relationship between nightclubs, retail and office. The uses simply don’t mix. The more proper term would be “split use” and to make an effective “split use” district you need a buffer between the nightclubs and the retail/office. That buffer is needed for the Entertainment lounge owners to clean up before the retail/office opens.
There are many other reasons in addition to this that after hours clubs should be restricted, I’m sure many of you have your own valid reasons as well. You want to attract residents to downtown; these clubs are also an obstacle of that goal.
Now, other than the proprietors themselves, most people in the city will agree with me about after hours clubs. Where I disagree with many is the need to curtail the nightclub industry. We don’t need to stop them we need to manage them responsibly. That can be done by supporting the Hospitality Resource Panel that is inching its way forwards. More can be learned about this at www.responsiblehrp.org
The only controversy here is whether to close places that provide food between 3 and 5am. If you ask the president of the Responsible Hospitality Institute he will say that these places create lineups made up of intoxicated people put in closed quarters. Thats a fight waiting to happen. The Responsible Hospitality Institute advocates for practices that allow patrons to leave downtown in an orderly manner. It is a fallacious argument to think that if a drunk person has something to eat before he drives home he somehow becomes safer. Food doesn't sober you up, it only slows down how quickly alcohol enters the blood. It will not make a person that is over the legal limit go under. Even if you disagree with this point call your councillor and ask them to close entertainment lounges, public halls between 3 and 5am
It also is the source of much of downtowns garbage. Other cities like Kitchener have done that and zoned any new massage parlours out of downtown. When asked how they got the existing ones to move out of downtown they simply responded, we told them to go that they were not wanted downtown. action can happen if the citizens of our city demand it. Please register to speak or show your support Monday Night at council, write, email or call your councillor. This is the type of positive change that we can make that I’ve been talking about. Here’s a chance for the naysayer to put their money where their mouths are.
Below are excerpts from Kitchener's municipal code which prevent after hour bars to open. After that is a description of how our city's administration is behaving on this issue. P.S. this will only be announced on Friday which gives the public virtually no notice or time to prepare. If it moves from Monday, I would question whether this post which I am making very public has caused a change that results in no public debate on the issue.
Public Hall
583.1.1 Public hall - defined
“public hall” means a building, including a portable building or tent with a seating capacity for over 100 persons that is offered for use or used as a place of public assembly, but does not include a theatre within the meaning of the Theatres Act, or a building, except a tent, used solely for religious purposes.
583.2.6 Operation - hours prohibited
No person shall operate a public hall between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. each day except the first day of January in each year.
583.3.1 Fine - for contravention - person
Every person other than a corporationwho contravenes any provision of this Chapter and every director or officer of a corporation who concurs in such contravention by the corporation is guilty of an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000).
583.3.2 Fine - for contravention - corporation
Every corporation that contravenes any provision of this Chapter is guilty of an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000)
Place of refreshment
584.1.2 Place of refreshment - defined
“place of refreshment” includes a restaurant, ice cream parlour, dairy bar, tea room, sandwich shop, lunch counter, hot dog and hamburger stand, peanut stand, fish and chip shop, refreshment booth, refreshment stand and a place where refreshments are sold from a vendingmachine, but does not include a refreshment vehicle
584.2.7 Class A licence - hours of operation
Every premises for which a ClassAplace of refreshment licence has been issued under this Chapter shall be closed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. each day except the first day of January in each year.
584.3.1 Fine - for contravention - person
Every person who contravenes any provision of this Chapter and every director or officer of a corporation who concurs in such contravention by the corporation is guilty of an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000).
584.3.2 Fine - for contravention - corporation
Notwithstanding Section 584.3.1, every corporation that contravenes any provision of this Chapter is guilty of an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000).
Good Morning Councillors:
I have reviewed the Council Report 13049 regarding After Hours Clubs. As this is a “Note and File” recommendation, we were informed by the City Clerk’s Office that delegations will not be heard on the issue.
As such, the DWBIA requests that Council direct Administration to work closely with the DWBIA in researching this issue and that the DWBIA be included in the discussion from the beginning through to the end of the study.
As an FYI – the Licensing Commission met on October 9th, 2007. I was informed by a person in the Licensing Department that this meeting was open to the public, however when two of my Board Members tried to enter the meeting, they were told to leave. I was assured by Licensing that we would be involved in this process, yet this Council Report has come forward without consultation with the DWBIA.
Judith C. Veresuk
Executive Director
Downtown Windsor Business Improvement
ED: The Windsor Star doing it's part at publicizing this issue today (Friday, Dec 7)
