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StumbleBooze ban now permanent in Las Vegas city parks
City council says alcohol prohibition in parks has made them safer for visitors
Published Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 | 12:10 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010 | 3:22 p.m.
Steve Ross
Gary Reese
Beyond the Sun
Prohibition has been a good thing in Las Vegas — at least in city parks, the Las Vegas City Council decided today.
The council, after hearing a report about the effects of a short-term ordinance that bans alcoholic beverages in the city's 67 city parks, decided to continue the ordinance indefinitely.
The council today repealed the Oct. 1, 2010, "sunset" clause, so the ordinance will continue to prohibit the use of alcoholic beverages in parks without a permit or other written authorization.
The controversial ordinance first was approved June 17, 2009, but only for a temporary period because of the reservations of some council members. It went into effect Oct. 1, 2009.
"When we first went into this ... I had some challenges with it," Councilman Steve Ross told the other council members today.
"I'll tell you, I'm very pleased with the citizens of this city paying attention to this ordinance and following the rules," Ross said.
Billie Bastian, who directs the city's leisure services department, gave the council a report on the first nine months of the ban.
"We feel that this ordinance is definitely increasing the safety of our workers and our park visitors," Bastian said.
"We saw some outcomes that were very positive," she said. "We were able to see that park safety maintenance was improved in that the park maintenance staff no longer had to pick up fragments of glass."
The lack of shattered glass fragments also made the parks safer for park visitors, she said. Park employees were able to focus their time on other maintenance chores in the parks, she said.
She said there was also a reduction in park lifting injuries among city park maintenance employees. Some injuries had been caused by lifting trash containers heavy with with alcoholic beverage bottles.
During 10 years there had been about 25 injuries, at a cost to the city of about $233,000, she said. There have been no such injuries since the ordinance went into effect.
"We were only able to identify three citizens who have called in and had any concerns about the park ordinance," she said.
Bastian said the city marshals, who took a "soft enforcement approach," reported a "tremendous reduction" of issues in the parks.
"They were saying that this is a very useful tool for them to help increase and enhance the safety of our park visitors," she said. "They did a really good job of educating the park attendees on a one-on-one and one-to-group basis between the months of October to December last year."
Bastian said the city marshals reported they had 10 enforcement actions between January and August of this year, which resulted in eight arrests and two citations.
Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese said Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian first brought up the issue of banning alcohol in city parks four years ago.
"It's taken us a long time, it's taken us a lot of meetings and I know because of Councilwoman Tarkanian, this ordinance has been successful," Reese said. "Our parks are a lot nicer and a lot safer for our constituents to use because of this ordinance."
Councilman Ricki Barlow said that in the beginning, he also had reservations about the ordinance.
"But after the review process, I understand more wholly where we were going with this. And I think this is most definitely the right direction," Barlow said.
Outside the meeting, Bastian said anyone who wants to get a permit can do so on the city's Department of Leisure Services website by renting a picnic pavilion.
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"We feel that this ordinance is definitely increasing the safety of our workers ... She said there was also a reduction in park lifting injuries among city park maintenance employees."
Were they lifting kegs?
One more freedom taken. The parks are public property. The public (us) now has to rent a pavilion if we choose to consume alcohol. Ridiculous.
Call the NAACP, this is targeting people who can't afford their own backyard! It's not right, and will forever tarnish the memories those people have of passing out in the park. They should not be denied!
The few ruining it for the many, America once stood against this sort of thing. Now we are embracing it. welcome to the world of guilty until proven innocent!
I took a temporary assignment as the marketing director for a couple of psychiatric hospitals in Sin City last year, one of which was a geriatric facility. We had an older man as a patient who'd gotten blind drunk and passed out face down on the asphalt parking lot of a Las Vegas city park. His shirt was open and he laid in the parking lot until the local constabulary found him and took him to UMC, thence to our place. He had second and third degree burns on his face, chest and abdomen from the heated asphalt. Guess he didn't read the ordinance, huh? God knows the city fathers gotta protect us from ourselves.
When is Huntridge Circle Park going to re-open? If it isn't a public park (meaning that the public can use it), it has to revert to the original heirs of those who donated the land according deed on this land.
This is fantastic!
Walking down Las Vegas Boulevard with a huge margarita is ok. But at a public park, not so much. Go figure.
@pghvegas
That's funny, and true.
I wish I could drink a beer in the park.
How about banning soccer so the parks can be enjoyed by others instead of a bunch of illegals?
Phew!! good thing we contracted with Henderson for our company picnic!!! Sunset was ALWAYS a nightmare anyway. They would sign a contract with certain amenities, then NOT deliver. Then, practically accuse us of being liars. Oh, but the written word with their signature on the document does not lie. STILL, they tried to dance their way around the contract. We moved to Henderson... a much more HONEST way of doing business with big business!!
@pghvegas,@ronster
That's because in the Resort Corridor, open beverages are legal.