NYC's Night Parliament looking to legalize public drunkenness

 

 NY Post

Bar? None!

New Yorkers would be free to openly drink their cares away in public areas under a new proposal by the city’s Nightlife Advisory Board — but residents near booze-soaked Washington Square Park are already feeling green around the gills at the thought.

In a report issued last week, the NAB — established by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017 — offered 15 recommendations on how to boost New York’s nightlife and maintain good relationships between hot spots and their residential neighbors.

Among the NAB’s suggestions, under a section labeled “Nightlife Beyond Bars and Clubs,” was taking the party outside.

“New Yorkers need affordable options for all kinds of nightlife,” the proposal says. “In most global cities people can gather informally in squares and parks to drink with friends and even dance to the rhythm of impromptu concerts.

“Drinking in the public space and dancing anywhere in the city should be regulated but not prohibited.”

But locals near Manhattan’s Washington Square Park — where lawlessness including public drinking has reigned in recent months, garnering no more than a shrug from de Blasio — gave a thumb’s down to the idea.

 “I’m all for people to have a place to gather, but I’m not in favor of [the NAB proposal],” said Carol Meylan, a social worker and Greenwich Village resident. “Behavior gets unruly and reckless.

“I think there would be more violence,” added Meylan, 62. “We already witnessed people getting into fights, a lot of broken glass, a lot of behavior where crowds can’t be managed that well.”

Al Rosario, a doorman of Meylan’s park-adjacent building, said he’s seen booze turn the crowds in the green space belligerent.

“Even when they have good music and entertainment, once these people are drinking, they don’t want to leave, they don’t want to stop,” said Rosario, 60. “It would be so hard to control. … You’re only going to start a fire here.”

Next stop Palitzville

Aerial Palitz, Noisemonger

 

NY Post 

The City That Never Sleeps could soon live up to its nickname.

New York’s nightlife czar is pushing to create 24-hour “entertainment districts,” where it would be OK for booze to flow, bass to thump and bodies to sway around the clock.

Despite the city already partying like it’s 1999.

“Everything is on the table right now,” said Ariel Palitz, who runs the city’s Office of Nightlife.

“We do know that 24-hour usage is very successful in other parts of the world. People say it might be terrible for quality of life, but in fact we found the opposite.”

Her recommendation is buried on page 136 of a 160-page report issued this month by Palitz’s taxpayer-funded agency, a division of the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.

The report claims that “uniform closing hours” for bars and clubs “can lead to increased tensions when groups of people simultaneously exit venues into public streets and sidewalks.

“Allowing 24-hour use in specified districts, if implemented properly, can help people to move at their own pace and reduce conflicts.”

 But the proposal comes as crime in New York is surging, quality-of-life violations have escalated and city leaders have failed to stem raging after-hours parties — with hot spots that include Washington Square Park and Hell Square in the Lower East Side.

Adding 24-hour entertainment can only make matters worse, cautioned Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank focused on urban policy.

“We need to retain New York City’s fragile residential population right now more than we need a few thousand more drunk people in the streets,” she told The Post.

“The city is already having trouble policing disorder. Now think about the unique challenges of trying to police a place where people go to behave in a way they wouldn’t behave at home. You have to wonder if New York City is up to the challenge.”