Last week, we touched on the drunken crowds gathering in the early morning hours on Baxter Avenue and Bardstown Road. They shut the streets down, damaged parked cars and broke windows on businesses. Some business owners are so fed up, they have threatened to close their shops, and you can’t blame them.
It would be logical to assume that if left unchecked, this will go on every weekend for the whole summer, and we can’t expect the police to muster in force every weekend night to control these poorly behaved adult children.
If people can’t be trusted to behave properly, to respect other people’s property, to manage their alcohol intake and to conduct themselves like civilized adults, then they will have to be treated like children and have their toys taken away. It’s just as simple as that.
The first and necessary step is for Metro Council to pass an emergency ordinance to shut every bar down at 2:00 a.m. Allowing irresponsible people to drink until 4:00 a.m. is equally irresponsible. If that doesn’t work, then roll closing time back to midnight.
Neighbors, and stores that don’t serve alcohol, should not have to suffer for the bars that do.
I call on the city to put an end to this disruption immediately, before the summer really gets rolling.
What are your thoughts?
I’m Bill Lamb, and that’s my Point of View.
