Mayor of Minneapolis urges citizens to "get funky"

Link:
http://www.startribune.co...65020.html

Rybak to bar patrons: Be funky and smart
James Walsh, Star Tribune

Published July 1, 2003 OPEN01


Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is a happy guy. To use his own words, patrons in Minneapolis bars can now get "funky" an hour longer, until 2 a.m.

But Rybak and Minneapolis police officials on Monday offered caution: Be funky and smart.

Noting that the traffic enforcement unit was beefed up in March and that the evening police shift goes an hour later, the mayor and Police Chief Robert Olson warned drivers against leaving bars that choose to close at 1 a.m. to look for an extra hour of drinking.

"Come early. Stay late. But don't drink and drive," Rybak said.

Officials said they expected only a couple of Minneapolis bars to move to the later closing times, which took effect after midnight Monday. Many bars now licensed to serve until 2 a.m. don't plan to take advantage of the extra hour until later this week.

"We're going to wait and see how it goes Wednesday through Saturday, and maybe add more late nights if there's a demand," said Larry Manning, owner of Manning's Cafe, 2200 Como Av. SE., near the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.

Staff members at several bars contacted Monday did not realize their licenses went into effect after midnight Monday. They had expected 2 a.m. sales to start with tonight's shift.

John Stein, owner of the Loon Cafe, 500 1st Av. N. in downtown Minneapolis, knew when the changes went into effect, but wasn't sure what he'd do about it.

"If enough people are here after 1 a.m., I suppose we will stay open, but there's no way of knowing what's going to happen," he said.

The St. Paul City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to allow bar owners citywide to stay open until 2 a.m.

For his part, Rybak could hardly contain his excitement.

"We have an entertainment district that's the envy of cities across the nation," he said, hoping that the later times improve Minneapolis' odds of landing big-time conventions. "This is just one more reason for people to enjoy downtown."

Until now, the craziest time downtown had been the 1 a.m. closing time, as crowds left night spots en masse, said Inspector Rob Allen, commander of the First Precinct. Officials said they think the 2 a.m. closing time will eventually stagger the traffic and crowds leaving the bars. Many who now stay until 1 a.m. will still leave at 1 a.m. And many of those staying until 2 will have more time to sober up before hitting the road, Rybak said.

He joked that an extra hour of dancing will work wonders.

"It will be a safe and very funky time," he said.

For a while, though, Allen said he expects the closing time problems of crowd and traffic control to simply shift forward an hour. "At least until the novelty [of the 2 a.m. closing time] wears off," he said.

Olson said Monday that it will take some time before police can tell if the later time has a positive or negative impact. For now, he said, "We're hopeful this is going to kind of level that spike for us."

For a complete list of Minnesota bars and restaurants with a license to serve alcohol until 2 a.m., go to a Web site of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The site is at: http://www.dps.state.mn.u...cappv.htm.

if he was mayor...MPLS would have a kingdom hall on every street corner

PS...i havdnt read your thread excpet the title

know what? i coulda sworn mpls had a 2 am bar curfew awready...i'm surprised that they're puttin it into play now, with all the liquor stores they have up here.

mpls is strange at times, but it's still cool.





rolling rock edit
[This message was edited Wed Jul 2 8:13:48 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Your avatar has made me fall in love with Prince more and more

Well worth the wait..

I'm confused...

Should this topic be in the Prince & More forum, or the Politics & Religion forum...