[atlantaprog] Re: 9-Lives


Allen Welty-Green <agmedia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The whole alcohol thing is ridiculous. One must question the REAL 
motivation behind the drinking laws though - did you know that bars in 
(city-owned) Underground Atlanta are exempt from the new drinking 
times?? Hmmm? So when folks are shoo'd out of Buckhead, Va Highlands & 
L5P bars at 2:30, where will they go hang out? Or (they city hopes) 
they'll hang out at Undeground all night and not worry about being 
shoo'd out. It's interesting to note how many clubs are considering 
space in Underground these days. The Masquerade, for one, is slated to 
close next year (making way for MORE yuppie lofts) and the owners are 
reported to be looking at either Underground or somewhere in the burbs 
for their new location...


Yes, as stupid as it is, this is the reason.  Does anyone really think there's 
going to be less crime in Underground than in Buckhead?  The mayor and her 
cronies are using those handful of shootings as their Pearl Harbor event-- the 
pretext for doing what they've been itching to do for a while.  You won't catch 
me drinking after 2:30am, but it seems likely to hurt the live music venues, 
which trickles down to all of us.


As a side note, the new bar hour rules - along with the ban on 
drinking in PRIVATE after-hours clubs has had the effect of shutting 
down much of Atlanta's gay nightlife. Can't help but wonder if this was 
by design - didn't some mention the "bible-belt"?


Yeah, my neighbor across the street lost his job at Backstreet.  The city is 
crazy to do anything that will drive off gays.  Like it or not, they form a 
crucial part of any desired intown renaissance, in terms of cultural support, 
property values, etc.  Grant Park, for example, was kind of a dump before the 
'urban pioneers', many of whom were gay, started moving in and renovating and 
supporting local retail.


As far as the smoking ban though, I say go for it! Did people stop 
going to restaurants when smoking was banned in them? I don't think it 
will affect bar business at all - people still want to drink and hang 
out. In fact it may INCREASE business when all of the people out there 
who don't smoke realize they can once again go out without having to 
endure the foul residue of someone else's bad habit.

AWG


I doubt that will make up for the losses, overall.  If you don't believe me, 
ask Brian Malouf, the manager of Manuel's Tavern, for his opinion.  He and 
others were quoted in the paper this week about this smoking ban, and he was 
definitely against it.  Given that his family has been running that place for 
48 years, I suspect he knows of what he speaks.  The only way the bar owners 
would have a _chance_ of getting behind this if it were a statewide ban.  
Otherwise it's just going to drive business out of the city into the 
surrounding areas.  Again, I don't care that strongly one way or the other 
about the smoking per se, but anything that hurts the city or the live music 
scene I'm against.

Brian

 

 


                
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