'What we have now is working well': Milton drops open container proposal
With very little in the way of opposition, the Milton City Council on Monday dispatched any notion of allowing the open carry of alcohol in certain areas of its downtown.
The city was asked last year to consider an amendment to its ordinances to allow the consumption of alcohol in certain public areas such as Jernigan's Landing and along several right of ways near where drinking establishments have been established.
At the executive committee meeting of the council held ahead of its regular forum, local residents and council members had their opportunity to address the proposal, which had originally been brought forward by Steve Dobbs, the owner of Beardless Brewhaus on Elmira Street.
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After a lengthy discussion the Council voted unanimously to scratch consideration of the open container ordinance completely, and remove it from the city's regular meeting agenda. A six month trial period proposed by the city's Community Improvement Board was likewise removed from further consideration.
To open the discussion of the ordinance change Mayor Heather Lindsay and members of the council were each given an opportunity to speak on the issue ahead of opening comments to the public. Board members made it pretty clear from the outset that the proposed amendment was not a popular one among elected officials.
"I disagree with the ordinance as presented," Lindsay said to lead off the conversation.
Citizens were no kinder to the concept. Many of the 10 or so residents who stood to speak used the term "family friendly" to describe Milton's city center, and some expressed concern that allowing drinking along city streets would lead to increases in drunken driving and pedestrian accidents.
"There's a lot of history and a lot of data that says that this is not a good fit," commented resident Sherry Chapman.
In a letter to the council read by Lindsay, former Milton Councilwoman Shannon Rice wrote that the idea of open container in downtown called to mind "debauchery."
"Who will the passage of this ordinance draw, and who will it run off?" Rice asked.
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Just one local resident stood to speak in favor of the proposal.
Even the city's Community Improvement Board's assessment of its findings in exploring the idea of an open container ordinance seemed like a lukewarm endorsement, if even an endorsement at all. It was stated on two occasions during discussions that most local establishments in the downtown area did not feel that allowing open containers would offer economic benefits to their businesses.
The ordinance amendment had been opposed all along by Milton Police Chief Tony Tindall, who told the council Monday that he had had a hand in developing alcohol consumption ordinances presently in place in the city and that in his opinion those ordinances had made the city more welcoming and safer.
"Many people can go out and drink responsibly, but it's not those we work with. There's always a part of the public that's just not going to act responsibly," he said. "What we have now is working very well."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Milton Council rejects open container proposal for downtown
