Murray council develops new drinking ordinance restricting open-air bars
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Opinion
The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Murray State News.
Blatant outdoor drinking, fun and revelry will no longer be allowed on the streets of Murray.
Murray's city council unanimously passed a new drinking ordinance regulating open-air bars in Murray at its Feb. 24 meeting.
The ordinance requires restaurants to build a four-foot-high wall and provide additional landscaping to screen pedestrians from drinkers.
Planner for the City of Murray Payton Mastera said the decision was in response to calls from concerned citizens pertaining to open-air drinking areas.
"We had concerns with safety and pedestrians views for families and citizens who do not drink that they have a little bit of privacy from that," Matt Mattingly, city director of administration, said.
Is Murray not a college town? Don't Murray State students bring millions of dollars into the city's economy every year? Can we please just responsibly enjoy our alcohol?
There are both positives and negatives to living in a college town.
Murray State offers economic, social and educational advantages to the city of Murray, as well as disadvantages like traffic and the occasional loud bar on a Friday night.
As long as students are drinking responsibly, they should be able to drink where they want to, whether it be on a porch or in a sound-proof, enclosed concrete room without windows or doors.
This ordinance is clearly singling out one or two venues in Murray, which cater mainly to college-age students. Local bars and drinkers already have to jump through enough hoops to even purchase any alcohol, much less drink it.
What's next - are students going to start going speakeasies and making moonshine in their residential college bathtubs?
We just ask the city council to cut a little slack for college drinkers. They really aren't as close to social delinquents as the council may think.
Blatant outdoor drinking, fun and revelry will no longer be allowed on the streets of Murray.
Murray's city council unanimously passed a new drinking ordinance regulating open-air bars in Murray at its Feb. 24 meeting.
The ordinance requires restaurants to build a four-foot-high wall and provide additional landscaping to screen pedestrians from drinkers.
Planner for the City of Murray Payton Mastera said the decision was in response to calls from concerned citizens pertaining to open-air drinking areas.
"We had concerns with safety and pedestrians views for families and citizens who do not drink that they have a little bit of privacy from that," Matt Mattingly, city director of administration, said.
Is Murray not a college town? Don't Murray State students bring millions of dollars into the city's economy every year? Can we please just responsibly enjoy our alcohol?
There are both positives and negatives to living in a college town.
Murray State offers economic, social and educational advantages to the city of Murray, as well as disadvantages like traffic and the occasional loud bar on a Friday night.
As long as students are drinking responsibly, they should be able to drink where they want to, whether it be on a porch or in a sound-proof, enclosed concrete room without windows or doors.
This ordinance is clearly singling out one or two venues in Murray, which cater mainly to college-age students. Local bars and drinkers already have to jump through enough hoops to even purchase any alcohol, much less drink it.
What's next - are students going to start going speakeasies and making moonshine in their residential college bathtubs?
We just ask the city council to cut a little slack for college drinkers. They really aren't as close to social delinquents as the council may think.
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