Inverness officials want to expand operating hours in the city’s entertainment districts to give downtown visitors more leeway to go out and carry alcohol from one business to another. Consider.
The city now operates an entertainment district for downtown events. During these events, the city will issue local businesses selling alcohol-only plastic cups to sell beer and wine when customers want to go out with a drink or go to other businesses. .
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City Manager Eric Williams suggests extending the program time rather than ending it when the downtown event ends. He will ask council members at Tuesday’s regular public meeting to discuss whether they can automatically join the entertainment district each week. He recommends that entertainment districts operate Thursday through Sunday so city officials can monitor whether that poses problems.
The city started the program about a year ago to monitor whether it encouraged public intoxication during events in Inverness. Williams said no.
From the beginning, Williams said, businesses in the city’s downtown have recognized the importance of ensuring that customers do not abuse the program, get drunk in public, or behave badly.
According to Williams, people come to downtown Inverness for entertainment, socializing, shopping, dining with friends and family, and drinking. But drinking alcohol is usually not the main attraction, he said.
According to Williams, when the entertainment district was first created in Inverness, the plan was to see if it was a good fit for the city, and if so, for the improvement of downtown and visitors. was to extend it to
Inverness Mayor Bob Preist said using the entertainment district has proven “very effective” in drawing people downtown and enhancing city events. .
“Very well done,” he said.
At the beginning of its inauguration, it guarded the downtown area in preparation for trouble, but there was no “uproar”, and the downtown watch party was disbanded after the first event in the entertainment district.
Plaisted said he supports expanding the operating hours of entertainment districts.
“And if something goes wrong, we can take it away,” he said.
The City Council will meet at the Valerie Theater at 207 Courthouse Square, Inverness on Tuesday, November 1 at 5:30 pm for an early vote at the Inverness City Council Chambers.
