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Want To Serve Juice To Teens? Call Cops First
by Thomas MacMillan | Mar 16, 2010 2:01 pm
(5) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: City Hall, Legal Notices
Clubs like Toad’s may soon have to notify police before hosting events for minors.
The Board of Aldermen Tuesday night officially received a proposed ordinance amendment that would place new requirements on bars and restaurants planning to host “juice bar” events. The ordinance, which was submitted by Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts, would cover businesses that hold events where nonalcoholic drinks are served to minors. That includes clubs, like Toad’s Place (pictured: Chris Mejias, Toad’s security assistant manager), where teens come to see live music.
Under the proposed ordinance, club owners would have to inform the police whenever they’ll be hosting minors. The police department could then require a club to hire an extra duty officer for the night. Should a club owner fail to notify the police about an underage event, he or she would face a $250 fine.
The proposed legislation is headed for committee review ahead of a final vote by the Board of Aldermen. Read the draft here.
The amendment is related to another piece of proposed legislation, said Smuts. It’s a companion to the bill—currently in front of the finance committee—that would require parades and entertainment events to pay for police overtime they cause to happen. Both bills are municipal versions of legislation that is already enshrined in state law. The local versions give the city the power to underline the state law and to impose fines, Smuts said.
The “juice bar” ordinance is also related to an effort by Alderwoman Jackie James-Evans to do away with underage events at all downtown clubs. But what James-Evans seeks to abolish, the proposed ordinance would simply regulate.
Regulation, rather than complete banning is a easier legislative route, Smuts said. Since state law backs up the ordinance, “we don’t have a legal challenge to worry about,” he said.
The ordinance “speaks to some of the issues behind Alderwoman James’ proposal,” Smuts said. When police know in advance about teen events, they can allocate their resources appropriately, to prevent problems.
There have been several recent crime incidents following underage club nights. Smuts mentioned the Christmas Eve all-ages party on Crown Street that led to fights and raucous behavior in the streets. Smuts also mentioned the break-in at the Devil’s Gear bike shop after a teen night at R Bar in November.
Smuts said the legislation is “not intended as punitive.” It’s simply a way to foster advance notice and communication between clubs and police, and it gives the city “a lot of leverage” to require bars to cooperate with the city, he said.
Smuts named several clubs that would likely be affected by the new ordinance, including bars on Crown Street and Toad’s Place. Toad’s would almost always be affected, since the club often has all-ages events, Smuts said.
Brian Phelps, owner of Toad’s Place, said he’d take the new ordinance over James-Evan’s total ban. “The other way, I’d be out of business,” he said.
He was somewhat cautious about the potential impact of the new bill. “It may or may not be a hardship,” he said. “It could be a financial burden if unnecessary officers are needed on certain nights.” That is, if the police department requires Toad’s to hire a lot more officers when they’re not really needed, it’ll get expensive. Phelps said he pays extra duty cops $221 each for a four-hour shift. But, he added, a police officer is worth 100 security guys.
Phelps said that during the days of the hold-down system, when he always had the same extra-duty cop in charge of security, his hold-down officer always knew what was coming up that month.
Phelps said his club has less problems with teen behavior than others, because he only allows teens when there is live music. The performers give the crowd a point of focus, and when the music’s over, they leave, Phelps said.
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Comments
posted by: Ronald Huggins on March 16, 2010 2:40pm
I just want to say that if the city really wants to put a stop to teen parties they can because the NHPD doesnt have to sign off for juice bar permits which is needed in order to through a teen party. But on the contrary,to that teen partes are not the problem in New Haven. Its obvious that there is a neighborhood problem in the city what we need to do as citizens is take are streets back. Lets demand for safe streets then put pressure on elected officials to allocate more money to our police department to ensure our safety. Starting with returning to community policing and having officers walk the streets and show a police prescence. It’s beginnning to get hot and violence will most likely go on a high so let’s address the issue now and spend the money and stop it before it does happen.
posted by: diver119 on March 16, 2010 4:10pm
The city has nothing better to do than put more of a burden on tax paying business owners like Toads Place. The city should stop shelling out tax payers money via state assistance programs to people who don’t work.
posted by: Becca on March 16, 2010 7:39pm
I think there are better things the NHPD could be doing… you know like protecting the streets of our city.
posted by: Edison on March 17, 2010 12:41am
I guess the hike in property taxes is not enough to keep New Haven in the black so the city has to find other ways to increase its revenue.
posted by: Cause and Effect on March 18, 2010 6:11am
So Smuts’ justification for this ordinance is:
1) fights after an *all-ages* party on Crown St. (if it was an all-ages event, the troublemakers were probably fuelled by something stronger than grape juice)
2) A break-in at a bike shop following a teen night - was the thief a *teen*? Were they at the teen night? This is not the strongest cause-and-effect I’ve ever seen. How do we know the thief wasn’t hopped up on local pizza? Is the solution to require police escort for all people leaving pizza parlors?
From what I know, serving alcohol to people of drinking age has been causing more problems than serving juice to teens.
I also wonder about the economic impact - downtown New Haven has a huge population of college kids, many of whom are under drinking age. It seems like this ordinance is keeping local businesspeople from making money off that group.
