Monday, June 16, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.
The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday will consider forcing promoters of big events where alcohol is served to provide designated drivers to take drunken patrons and their cars home.
The proposal is designed to reduce the risk of drunken motorists on the roads coming home from events such as the St. Patrick's Day downtown block party, Cinco de Mayo and rock concerts.
Promoters of events that require "special event licenses" to sell alcohol say there is no evidence that people who attend those family-type gatherings are driving home drunk and no incidents in the history of their events to support what they are calling a burdensome and possibly unenforceable measure.
The item is going before the council as a policy proposal from the city attorney's office, but it could blossom into an ordinance that would require designated driver programs for special events attended by 1,000 people or more.
If the council agrees with the proposal, the city would draft an ordinance and hold public workshops before it is implemented.
Advocacy group Stop DUI heralds the proposal as the first of its kind not only in Southern Nevada but perhaps in the nation.
"You have tons of alcohol flowing at these events, and the promoters, who are making lots of money from alcohol sales, have to take responsibility to prevent what could happen," said Sandy Heverly, longtime president of Stop DUI.
"Sure the promoters are not going to be happy about what this is going to cost for liability insurance and extra staff because it is money out of their pockets," she said. "We wish they would take that responsibility on their own. It's a sad commentary that we need to consider requiring something like this."
The particulars of how the designated driver program would work have not been worked out.
Heverly said one company in Las Vegas that provides such a service charges $40 and sends out two drivers -- one to drive the inebriate and the person's car home and the other to taxi the designated driver to and from the route.
Heverly said the city of Las Vegas is the first local entity to consider this proposal. She hopes that if Las Vegas takes the lead, the rest of the municipalities and Clark County will follow.
Promoters of the one-day events say the proposal is seriously flawed.
"Our block party is held in the shadow of five major downtown casinos where people can get smashed in any of those places, come out, order one beer from us and then we are responsible to get them home," said Mike Scanlon, vice president of the Sons of Erin, which puts on the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and block party under the Fremont Street Experience. "That's not fair.
"We were offered this service by a for-profit company for our event (in March) and we rejected it because they wanted $1,800 to $2,000 plus $40 for everyone they took home. Now the city will consider forcing us to do it."
Eddie Escobedo, president of the Mexican Patriotic Committee, which hosts the Cinco De Mayo celebration in May and Mexican Independence Day in September, wonders how such a measure can be enforced.
"How can you watch 5,000 people to determine which ones need a ride home?" he asked. "Our events are family oriented. If the person who drives there gets drunk, his wife or older son who are sober will get the family home safely."
Escobedo said only beer is sold at his committee's events and responsible drinking is promoted. He said bartenders are instructed to cut off anyone who appears to be drunk.
Scanlon and Escobedo say their events will continue even with the requirement, but they say it would be yet another expense that eats into the funds they are raising for charity.
"We used to get the park donated for our use, now we pay $3,000 to $5,000," said Escobedo, the publisher of El Mundo newspaper. "This would be another expense that cuts into what we are trying to do by providing scholarships and citizenship classes."
Scanlon agreed. "We support 12 to 15 charities a year from our St. Patrick's Day block party, and we already carry a $1 million umbrella policy. This is going to cut into our revenues and unnecessarily."
Heverly noted that her organization also is a nonprofit group that over the years has spent a lot of money providing potential drunken drivers with free trips home, especially during the holiday season.
"There is no valid excuse for driving drunk," she said.
"Many people have used a designated driver service on their own because they realize that $40 is a small price to pay for a safe trip home for them and their car compared to $5,000 defending a misdemeanor DUI or $30,000 to defend a felony DUI and living with the knowledge they killed or maimed someone."
Mayor Oscar Goodman's "Martinis with the Mayor" events and his campaign parties would not be affected by the policy because they don't need special events licenses, but Goodman has made a point of having designated drivers at those events in the past.
Goodman has not yet publicly commented on the proposal, and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the proposal.
The Metro Police Department is not taking a position on the proposed policy, said Sgt. Bob Roshak, Metro's intergovernmental services officer and a former investigator of traffic deaths.
"It is a good idea from a safety standpoint, but we don't want to appear to be forcing this" on event operators, Roshak said.
Roshak also said Metro does not want to be seen as endorsing any private company that provides such a service, given that few exist.
Escobedo and Scanlon argue that if something is not broken, don't fix it.
"We have had no incidents in 23 years" of drunken driving fatalities from Mexican Patriotic Committee-sponsored events, Escobedo said. "As I have said, our crowd is families. You control yourself when you are with your family."
And Scanlon said: "We have never had anyone come up to us and say that because of our block party there was X number of DUI arrests or X number of alcohol-related fatal accidents.
"If they come up with something that is cost-effective and allows us to provide free rides homes for our patrons, we'd absolutely support it. But don't shove something like this down our throats."
Heverly admits that while she cannot point to any specific incidents at local special events where people have driven drunk or injured or killed anyone, the potential is very real.
"It is better to be pro-active than reactive," she said.
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