have you heard about this?
No-fun closing times are turning the clock back towards Hicksville
The Province
Monday, March 24, 2008
Page: A16
Section: Editorial
Byline: Jack Keating
Source: The Province
Vancouver's no-fun bureaucrats are at it again.
Vancouver has quietly adopted a policy where senior bureaucrats -- and it's these folks who really run the city --
have decided most restaurants, bar and grills, cafe/lounges and pubs that serve beer, wine and spirits will have to close at midnight, even on Friday and Saturday nights.
That's right. The bureaucrats want everyone to stop having fun and go home at midnight. What a sham!
The city wants to turn Commercial Drive, Main and Cambie streets, Broadway, West 4th and other areas into ghost towns at midnight.
Imagine telling someone from Montreal, Toronto, New York, Europe, Australia -- or even Calgary or Seattle, for that matter -- that you can't get a glass of wine or beer, or listen to live music after midnight in most areas of the city.
The reaction would be disbelief. And this in a city that is practically begging tourists to visit.
The law in B.C. says you can legally drink until 4 a.m. -- something Vancouver's chief license inspector, Paul Teichroeb, readily admits.
But Vancouver's bureaucrats and politicians have arbitrarily deemed midnight as closing time in all but the entertainment district downtown.
This march toward Hicksville actually began 30 months ago under the guise of pretending to liberalize the city's archaic drinking bylaws.
With the most restrictive drinking laws of any major city in the western world, Vancouver was dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century in 2003 when it was revealed city officials were strictly enforcing a bylaw that banned dancing in restaurants and more than two musicians on stage.
Several popular restaurants on Main and Commercial were actually threatened with $2,000 fines and possible closure for violating the bylaw.
There was outrage.
Mayor Larry Campbell termed the bylaw "absolutely ludicrous" and "nutso," while Coun. Jim Green said the city had become "a laughingstock" over the issue.
But in taking one step forward -- allowing live music and dancing -- the city has taken two steps back by forcing establishments to close one or two hours earlier than before.
The same bureaucrats who were given the task of liberalizing antiquated bylaws have actually turned the clock back.
Owners are opposed to the ridiculously early closing times. But they have to agree to them, as it's the only way they'll get a business licence to open and operate.
Even nightclubs and cabarets, which for decades were allowed to stay open until 2 a.m., are being ordered to close at midnight. Some after much haggling with the city's bureaucracy, are granted a one-hour extension until 1 a.m.
Unbelievable.
These latest edicts are reminiscent of the hare-brained, anti-fun decisions of the '80s and '90s that got Vancouver branded a "no fun" city in the first place.
This backward/backwater policy must change.
jkeating@png.canwest.com