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Posted Oct 1, 2009, 6:43 PM
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Dérive-r
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 4,446
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City council possibly extending liquor hours
Sounds like the City has finally realized it has outgrown some of its "small-town" policies. I know a number of forumers will be happy about this. Overall I'm in support of this.
Quote:
Vancouver city council might approve extended liquor hours
By Carlito Pablo
In a bid to soften Vancouver’s reputation as a no-fun city, council is moving closer to giving the go-ahead for longer liquor hours at certain licensed restaurants. However, a representative of the bar and club industry is warning that this may attract gangsters out for a drink.
In February this year, staff recommended an extension from the current midnight cutoff time to 1 a.m., seven days a week. But Vision Vancouver councillor Heather Deal is interested in seeing restaurants serve alcohol until 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends.
“First of all, we are an urban city, and we still have some fairly small-town kind of policy that assumes everyone goes to bed early—and we don’t,” Deal told the Georgia Straight. “People work different hours. We have a lively younger population, and even some of our old folks stay up late. We have people who go to movies and theatre and want to go for a bite and drink afterwards. And I think we need to make that more accessible throughout the city.”
Deal said there will be a new staff report on the matter, and she said she expects overwhelming support for the measure when it comes up for discussion this month.
“It’s very much supported by, I think, all the councillors,” she said. “People feel it’s been a long time coming. There are very, very strong voices out there in the restaurant industry, the entertainment industry, and the creative industry and the music industry saying, ‘It’s time to loosen up a bit, let people go out a little bit later in the evenings. Don’t force them down to Granville Street; let people have a little more fun in their neighbourhood.’ And this is a gentle tool for that.”
There are about 1,061 restaurants—with a combined seating capacity of 157,000—in Vancouver that hold a provincial food-primary liquor licence. This means that these establishments can serve alcohol to go along with meals.
According to the city staff report in February, 62 percent of these licensed restaurants already have closing liquor hours past midnight. Forty percent can serve alcohol up to 1 a.m., while 13 percent can do so until 2 a.m. Nine percent have cutoff points at either 12:30 a.m. or 1:30 a.m.
The same report recalled that the province changed regulations for food-primary establishments in December 2002. This allowed liquor hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. but required local governments to endorse these later hours.
However, since 2003, the City of Vancouver has suspended action on all new applications for post-midnight liquor hours.
A report issued by provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall in December 2008 noted that alcohol consumption in B.C. had increased eight percent since 2002. Liquor stores, which increased in number from 786 in 2002 to 1,294 in 2008, provided 73 percent of alcohol consumed in B.C. Bars and clubs accounted for 12 percent, and restaurants seven percent.
In Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy: An Updated Report From the Provincial Health Officer, Kendall identified 10 best practices for managing the health and social harms associated with alcohol. One of these was “restrictions on days and hours of sale”.
Gerald Thomas, a senior policy analyst at the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., was the principal author of Kendall’s paper. In a phone interview, Thomas said research has shown that increasing access to alcohol leads to more health and social problems. Although the extension of liquor hours in Vancouver restaurants may seem like a small move, he pointed out that this represents a “constant lessening of control over alcohol in this regard, and over time that could create more problems”.
“Most decisions around alcohol are business decisions,” Thomas said. “Money is what makes the difference here.”
Food-primary-licensed restaurants in Richmond, New Westminster, and Burnaby can serve liquor until 2 a.m. Surrey allows alcohol service up to 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, according to the February staff report. North Vancouver has no fixed closing-time policy, and applications are treated on a case-by-case basis.
Bars and clubs in Vancouver operate until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends but they are subject to stricter regulations and must provide security, according to John Teti, president of BarWatch, an organization representing these establishments.
“We already have so many restaurants operating like bars, with no regard for public safety,” Teti told the Straight. “They don’t have any door personnel, they don’t have security, they don’t have to meet the requirements, and by extending their licence till 2 a.m., it will encourage more restaurants to operate like bars.”
Teti also said extended liquor hours will attract gangsters and gang activity. “The more these places are open like bars, the harder they [criminal elements] are to control,” he said.
Lone Non-Partisan Association councillor Suzanne Anton acknowledged Teti’s concerns that some restaurants are operating like bars. However, Anton said that it’s not something that will stand in the way of her voting in favour of extended liquor hours for restaurants with food-primary licences.
“The bigger picture is we’re an international city,” Anton told the Straight, “in terms of the need in the city and people who come to the city and travelling, and people who live in the city, and people don’t all keep 9-to-5 hours anymore. Lots of people want to be up later at night for one reason or another. And, yes, I do believe the city should be able to accommodate that.”
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By Carlito Pablo, The Georgia Straight
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