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Gilmore moves forward with single-beer ban
District 19 Councilwoman Erica Gilmore returned from her trip to Denver for the Democratic National Convention impressed with the Mile High City.
Gilmore said Denver was so green and litter-free that it reinvigorated her interest in a piece of legislation aimed at cleaning up Nashville’s downtown. To that end, Gilmore has begun finalizing a piece of legislation that would ban single item beer sales in the urban core.
A single item beer ban for retail locations like convenience stores was been brought before Metro Council in 2002. By the time it passed it was so watered down, it didn’t accomplish its original intent. The law posted more ‘No littering’ signs, but didn’t ban single item beer sales at retail stores.
Gilmore is hoping this time is different.
“I think we have a better grasp of how to deal with it,” Gilmore said. “Just traveling to Denver, it was really clean. It was really amazing actually. You think, ‘When I walk downtown, I wish our downtown could be like this.’”
Gilmore believes single item beer sales contribute to vagrants loitering around downtown and leads to littering.
“You have people loitering round, hanging around with bottles, it does not look attractive,” Gilmore said.
Public relations strategist Joe Hall opposed the beer ban on the first go-round. He represents Anheuser-Busch and said the single item ban does not solve the problems it attempts to address.
Hall said laws are already on the books to address loitering, public intoxication, littering and other issues associated with irresponsible drinking.
He added that a single item beer ban would deprive Metro of sales tax and beer tax dollars, which he estimated to be several million dollars annually. A ban is opposed by the Tennessee Grocers Association, the Tennessee Oil Marketers Association and the Tennessee Malt Beverages Association, Hall said.
“It doesn’t make sense to pass a law that solves nothing, yet takes away the rights of law abiding citizens,” Hall said. “It’s purely window dressing.”
Gilmore said she was still fine-tuning the bill how far beyond downtown it would extend and other issues.
District 6 Councilman Mike Jameson, whose district includes much of downtown and East Nashville, has expressed support for a ban of single item beer sales in the past.
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Gilmore believes single item beer sales contribute to vagrants loitering around downtown and leads to littering.*****************************You cannot legislate bad behavior away.If the cops weren't so concerned with producing revenue through traffic tickets perhaps they would have time for enforcement of quality of life issues.I know people, occasional drinkers that wish to try new beers and rather then a 6 or 12 pack will pick up a single to see if they like it. Why should those people be forced to buy a 6 pack , do without or waste 5 bottles if they don't like it because a politician has a brain fart.
Someone needs to do something. The guys(mostly) coming and going from the mission regularly are toting their favorite single of beer or malt. Sure would be nice if they'd quit facilitating these folks.I'm not aware of anyone selling singles of any unusual beers. Most of the singles I see are the household names. Does seem to be a strong initiative by Serpas to wear the city out with tickets. Pretty much any down hill stretch in Nashville has become a speed trap - meanwhile every morning and afternoon you have guys walking down the street with a mag or quart of whatever, of course when they're done it's someone else's problem to clean up, among other things.
Take you hands off the bottle !I can see it now. "The police are enforcing the incredible new law: no singles sold !,film at 11".Erica thinks she can have a clean city by doing this ?! She's crazy and her brain is full of mud. You can't legislate sobrietyDo you think those guys won't band together long enough to buy and split a 6 pack ?Talk to Denver, get a plan, suggestions, guidelines and experience. Then come back with something solid to work with.Erica, go back to sleep...
Question: Does Denver prohibit single beer sales? I doubt it. Denver is a beer mecca and very proud of their Rocky Mountain beers. Anchored by Molson-Coors, there are many, many craft beers. Just attend the Great American Beer Festival next month.Denver's cleanliness has nothing to do with beer. Gilmore is in fantasy land.
Many cities have a ban on the sale of single beers (some in Tennessee). The exception is usually high priced premium beer. I don't see the bums (homeless) in the downtown area carrying 6 or 12 packs. They surely don't purchase quality beers such as Samuel Adams. I don't see how anyone, with a brain, could oppose this.
Gee, I can't buy one . . . I'll just buy. . six!!! Duh. This isn't going to solve a thing.
Sounds like a great plan. Don’t understand the urban core area aspect though, it should be city wide.
Ms. Gilmore, every city cleans itself up and puts on it's best face when several thousand people are showing up. There's a lot a stake. Those thousands of people are going to spend millions of dollars, and the city will be featured on every media outlet in the country. In fact, Denver set up a special jail during the DNC to hold protesters, homeless. They didn't want pictures of police and protesters clashing, or pictures of the homeless that live around the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field. The only green Denver was worried about during the DNC was $$$$.
“It doesn’t make sense to pass a law that solves nothing, yet takes away the rights of law abiding citizens,” Hall said. “It’s purely window dressing.”Sounds like he's talking about the Kroger beer I.D. law to me.
Cowboy and Dragon are correct here. Singer beer purchases are no more a threat to Gilmore's "Green Clean" movement than an entire 6-pack purchase. The only difference is there's no cardboard holder and probably FEWER bottles laying around. Gilmore's just pushing it to the point that the drinkers will have to consume MORE because the temptation will be even greater. duh. Think about it. Doesn't the average consumer/user consume more if there ARE more laying around? So I would just quit eating Lays potatoe chips after just one? LOL Same with beer, pretty much, especially if you are an alcoholic. Selling it singly actually sounds better than with with all the other packaging, now doesn't it? ;-)
Have any of you seen the Gulch area and all the empty quarts? The GBID has hired a private company to clean it up every day. I will say the CITGO next to the ICON is being developed soon so that will get rid of the problem.
MGulch: Some of those bottles can be attributed to people frequenting the bars in the gulch. It's known as "pre-gaming" to some. Also, this better not affect Fat Tire sales in Publix / Kroger. If so, you will have some angry people in this city. Took us 8 years to get New Belgium Brewing Co. into TN.
This will DEFINITELY AFFECT Fat Tire beer; Guinness cans; Sam Smith's Taddy Porter. Wave goodbye. Also, I checked. Denver does not have a single container ban. The city, as you might expect, cleaned up when all the visitors were in town.
What will she waste council time on next? 1 cigarette at a time! How about fast foods can't use wrappers or sacks?
This is a good suggestion. Single items are littered all of the urban core and do contribute to the homeless attractivness of the area. Of course the beer people are opposed to this DUH! Your in their pocket. I have watched hungry bums LOL, take money from visitors and go to the liquor store immediately. Anything that contributes to less homeless people is a great thing for Nashville.
She is an example why we should reduce the council and make them full time.With a billion and a half dollar budget we need better then clowns like this that treat the job as a hobby or a way to get free health insurance for life.
"Have any of you seen the Gulch area and all the empty quarts?"Quarts don't come in six packs. Does she want to outlaw quart bottles?
Hmmmm...quarts are not sold in six packs so they are sold as a single beer sale...she wants to ban single item beer sales...I'm drawing a blank Dragon...end sarcasm
You can’t use sarcasm with dragon gd, it just pisses him off. Then he has to go and drink off his frustrations. One at a time.
Lou, you used to be able to carry on a rational debate. What happened? Someone pee in your cornflakes?
Sorry, too much carry over from the election circus.
By: RTungsten on 9/4/08 MGulch: Some of those bottles can be attributed to people frequenting the bars in the gulch. It's known as "pre-gaming" to someYeah I always see people leaving Watermark, Flyte and City Hall with bottles of beer. Go back to Knoxville....the capital of quarts. You should see the people that go into the Citgo. The other day while getting some gas a delivery worker went inside purchased a SINGLE beer and drove off..that is just fantastic!
We all know that prohibition didn’t work, and to reach for that again would be stupid. But, personally, I have never understood why singles, whether tall boy cans, or quart bottles, are allowed in drive-in markets, where they sell gas, etc. It is too easy, and too tempting, in my opinion, for a person to scrape together 2 bucks and get “one for the ride home”. A six pack cost more, and while it would not eliminate drinking and driving, or litter, it would seem to cut it down some.I have no problem with people drinking. I detest drinking and driving.
The good thing is that once this is in place, the vagrants won't be able to afford a sixer without robbing someone to get it. Sweet.
MGulch: You are an idiot. They are drinking BEFORE the go to the bars and leaving their trash in the lots. It's cheaper than going to get sloshed over $8 drinks.
airvols, did it ever occur to you that a person can only drink one beer at a time, thus, the "single beer bottle" theory. Picture this: I buy a six, 10, 12, 24 pack and give a beer to my buddy. He then drinks it and discards the bottle on the steet. Is the single beer ban going to stop littering? Heck no. How about early intervention? You know. Teach kids at kindergarten, preschool, K-7, then junior and middle and then high school to NOT LITTER. Then maybe by the time they are in college, some subliminal message might stay in their brain for the DO NOT LITTER subject. Otherwise, it's a waste of time. A person can actually leave a bar with a beer in their britches! What next? Beer bottle detectors for the clubs on 2nd?
Sidneyames, all the vagrants drink quarts and large can singles. They don't buy six packs, they can't afford them. This is not about bars or people who take drinks home. We are talking about litter on the streets with vagrants and the only intervention that needs to happen is a bus out of town.
I hope this won't turn out to be a case of punishing the masses because of a few offenders. There certainly aren't many people causing the kind of problems that Councilwoman Gilmore is trying to address here. And if any supporter thinks this will solve Nashville's homeless problems, I think you are terribly mistaken.As downtown grows with more residents and businesses we need to think what these new neighbors want - and what they buy. I work downtown and have friends that live downtown. Sometimes, it's just better on my wallet (and those of my friends) to buy a simple, single beer. That doesn't make us criminal. Use some of the tax money from those purchases and think of a real solution for our homeless issues.We need to think about the effects that this proposal has in taking away our right to purchase something very simple and, in turn, supporting our city through taxes generated.
Had our esteemed Councilperson paid attention she would have noticed that Denver has a deposit on all beverage containers, a deposit that, when the container returned to a store, is returned in cash. This approach generates an income for some, an income that is returned to the economy immediately and keeps the streets very clean. Dog Out
airvols if we busy every litter bug in this city out of town, it would be half full! What is the per capita ratio of homeless people who drink quarts and singles to general population? Yes Yarddog, that the the most intelligent comment in a long time. When there is a 5cent or higher deposit incentive, folks don't throw away as much or when they do, others pick it up. Deposits on beverage containers is the answer. Run for city council yarddog and let me know where so I campaign for you.
Yarddog good point. In states where there is a deposit on cans and bottles the same demographic who drink and toss here are often roaming the street with a shopping cart providing free litter removal. Less than a hundred empties and they can buy a fresh cold 6 pack. Of course there is also less littering to begin with.This law is a dumb idea but compared to English Only it is sheer genius.
I didin't mean to imply that only the homeless litter. In fact it's a major problem here. You frequently see trash flying out of the window of an old pick-up on any major road. Deposit bottles are the answer, not this dumb proposal.Hmmm, I've ticked off homeless advocates, rednecks, and on another thread Republicans. I guess my work is done for today.......
Excuse me T4T, but you also see litter flying out of nice shiney new cars with suits driving them. Hence, your inference that only old pick up truck drivers is debunked! Bottom line, deposits on bottles and cans is the answer. Erica Gilmore's phone number is 248-8852. Call her and slowly (as instructed) leave her a message.
Having lived in a state that had a deposit law it *****. It increases the cost for the stores and you either waste money by throwing them away or have to store them in your house and take "garbage" back to the store.Forced recycling is just one more erosion on our rights and makeing life a little more of a hassel.
Ms. Gilmore called me today @ 7:30a.m. (saturday); that's what I call thoughtful! Or spiteful! Anyway, my question was: What research has been done to prove this measure will clear up the problem? And she could not provide me with an answer that sounded logical. She said "I feel" too many times for me. I want solid facts. Look for this to pass because it's going to be one of those "vote for it and not stir up waves" votes in council. It will not cure the problem. It will move the problem a few blocks down the street - and when I said that to her, she could not or would not respond.