Tuesday’s editorial asks the question about underage drinkers caught in bars: “Why doesn’t the city implement a huge fine and prohibit them from going into a bar again?” The answer is simple: in Florida, only the state legislature can make laws such as these, not local government. Local government can only do two things: regulate the hours, and regulate whether the bars can admit 18-20 year olds or if they have to be 21 and up. Only the state can take away a liquor license through an administrative proceeding or make harsher punishments for violating state laws.
The city of Gainesville made its local ordinance as a compromise, rather than simply deciding to make all the bars 21 and up as recommended by many. The ordinance merely requires that those bars who go over the threshold of a certain number of underage drinking offenses would have to become 21 and up after 9 p.m. Our goal was to reduce the load of the Gainesville Police Department, who were finding that a handful of bars were very lax in their duties in keeping a liquor license. Most bars do an excellent job in managing their premises and should not be penalized for those who do not.
We have had great success since this ordinance was implemented in April 2009 with a 66 percent decrease in documented underage drinking in Gainesville’s bars. In addition, there have been no significant increases in calls for party patrol or code enforcement in our single-family neighborhoods near campus.
The tax-paying citizens of the city should not be spending a significant portion of their tax dollars on policing irresponsible bars; the success of this ordinance allows GPD to spend more time keeping the community safe. I stand by the intent and the results of this ordinance.
