Thanks to our friend Goggla for sending along this link from The Seattle Times yesterday:
In an effort to help Seattle police tame unruly bar patrons as they spill out of the city's bars and clubs at closing time, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that would allow cops to write tickets for fighting, making threats and creating noisy disturbances.
Dubbed the "meathead ordinance" — a catchall phrase for the stereotypical bad behavior officers regularly encounter when bar patrons spill onto sidewalks just before 2 a.m. — the measure would be enforced between midnight and 5 a.m.
Given the number of meatheads who invade the neighborhood weekends, the city could make a fortune in no time... And I'm not advocating such an ordinance -- just pointing out its existence somewhere else... according to the Times, the ordinance still needs to be vetted by the state Department of Ecology (!), which reviews all laws related to noise.
11 comments:
who is going to fund the extra police? Not just for East Village, but every other manhattan neighborhood with Bars that attract meatheads. This is a liberal city with liberal laws, these fines will not be enforced by the courts. The money will be too much to pay for extra police. The police cant be evreywhere all the time, esp on a friday\ saturday night. There are a million 911 calls, crowds evreywhere. I work EMS and I get at least 5 calls a night where we have to take a drunk to the hospital because they cant walk. Its impossible in NYC to do this, unless poeple start voting to give the police more power. And I am sure that will not go over well.
I have a solution, Attend and vote at community board meetings to punish bars that serve booze to drunk drivers, underage kids, and let people hang out on their sidewalks making noise all night
It could be called the "le souk" law, or soon the "billy hurricanes" law.
how about the "NIMBY Ordinance"?
You are not allowed to complain more than once a month about something idiotic.
the east village bars drool at all the nyu (and other students) that they can serve and all they have to do is look at fake identification (if they bother).
they are not going to shoot the golden goose.
to start the city could hire extra police with the money generated by ticketing cars and bikes that drive dangerously - flagrently disregarding simple traffic laws (jumping lights, riding on the sidewalk and/or in the wrong way).
then the new fines the meatheads have to pay could fund a "stupid" squad to enforce the new laws against anti-social "meat head" behavior.
the community boards cannot force the sla to act and the sla is more interested in collecting fines than in solving the problem
and perhaps the new laws could, in addition to fining the "meat haeds", have a provision to actally close a bar after a developed process.
bikes and bars seem to generate the most comments - let's do somethinng about it.
it is only a problem in cities with early closing time. in NYC people filter out of bars from 1:30 to 4 am so its very diluted and orderly. You want to see a shit show...Boston at closing time.
I do have a lot of questions about this - why doesn't loud behavior fall under the "drunk and disorderly" law and how are cops supposed to devote any time to this, but I like that there are apparently enough people upset to make this motion. I think the intent is to put more responsibility on the individual rather than the bars. A $100 ticket may not hold up in court, but going through the hassle of dealing with it might make a person think twice before screaming outside someone's bedroom window.
I do like the name — Meathead Ordinance... though I'd prefer to see a more inclusive title... to include the woo-wooers on cellphones (that doesn't strike me as Meathead necessarily) ... not just the dudes bro-ing each other...
I'd like to see a mandatory 2 year sentence for 'icing'. Maybe some hard labor fixing the construction clusterfuck that is E. Houston...
diluted and orderly at 4am? Are you crazy? Come to MacDougal st at 4am and watch the pewk heavers, pissing foolers and asshole shouters parade, then call it diluted and orderly.
And even with an ordinance, I doubt the cops would do anything, same as it ever was
"...woo-wooers on cellphones" haha. Good one Grieve.
How about people who are celebrating their birthdays as if they were 5?
Which reminds me of one of my favorite videos EVER, fast forward to :55 where they shred the B&T couple celebrating a birthday...
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/eab643de2f/ifh-mondays-from-nicholaus-goossen-nick-swardson-and-david-spade
Stores get fined if there is garbage on their sidewalk, or if the pavement is cracked. Why not if there is excessive noise? If the sanitation department can find people to give out those tickets, can't the police? Just a thought.
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