Beer in parks could bring city revenue, cost savings
One item that caught my attention last month during the usual round of Columbia City Council meetings was a proposal to allow beer and alcoholic beverages at events in city parks.
Of course, after reading more details about it, the proposed ordinance did not mean "every" city park, but would allow the change to occur at Riverwalk Park. This means the 2022 Columbia Oktoberfest could be held proper in a city park, similar to other cities like Franklin, Nashville and Murfreesboro.
The ordinance's first reading passed in December, with the second receiving approval earlier this week. At the same time, the city is also considering making a few revisions to its mass gathering permits, which would increase the cost for anyone wishing to hold a major event downtown.
After discussions this week with Mayor Chaz Molder, City Manager Tony Massey and Columbia Police Chief Jeremy Alsup regarding these two considerations, I came to a better understanding about why they have become topics of discussion. Quite simply, it comes down to how the city is growing, and the increasing costs of time, manpower and taxpayer money to host big events downtown.
As of right now, a mass gathering permit only costs $25 to apply for, which might have made sense 20 years ago when we didn't have close to 40,000 people living in Columbia, but not so much these days. The proposed increase would make the fee $250.
Bringing upwards of 20,000 people downtown for events like Mule Day, Haunting in the District or the Columbia Main Street Christmas Parade, while evident that people love what we are doing here, in the end, can amount to multiple thousands of dollars spent. This includes staffing first responders to monitor the event, the loss in revenue for downtown businesses due to road closures, as well as the cost to clean the streets once everybody goes home.
"With the Trace Adkins event at Maury MuleFest, which was a two-day event, it ended up costing us over $50,000," Massey said. "With these types of events you've got to bring in extra police officers, pay them overtime, and that's the same thing with firefighters and Public Works. It gets to be a little pricy, even though we know these are successful events, but when you close the downtown and areas like West 7th, you incur a lot more expenses."
True, this is what it takes to host such events, but by having places like Riverwalk Park to divert the large crowds, while also allowing things like beer, wine and craft liquors, a city park is a fairly common option for a lot of cities. It can also be a way to save money, while generating more revenue to combat the continued growth that is in no way of slowing down.
In other words, it should be looked at as a win-win for both sides, while creating new and exciting opportunities for the city and its citizens.
It will also be interesting over the next couple of years to see how the changes bring new and interesting events to the Riverwalk area and how the cost savings and additional revenue will benefit the city in the long run. Not to mention, it's a chance to create many more fun things to do and events that will bring more people down here, which is always a plus.
Jay Powell is a reporter for The Daily Herald. Contact him at jpowell@c-dh.net or follow him on Twitter @JayPowellCDH.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Beer in parks a simple addition that'll add a lot to city revenue, cost savings
