did any of you hear about/see the article on the potential new measure to decrease the amount of public drunkenness in baltimore? as reported in the baltimore sun, city council president young wants to increase the fine for public drunkenness anywhere up to $1000. this is a huge jump given that current penalties can be as low as $50 for unruly behavior
having been out in baltimore on various occasions, i don't think this is the worst idea. i don't know about y'all, but i've been to halloween in fells point. it's a nightmare, and i was drunk. there are people everywhere you turn, starting ruckuses left and right. people talking at the top of their voices. people getting ejected violently from bars. people starting fights in the streets. thank god i didn't see anyone urinating in public, but i don't doubt that it happened. my friends and i scooted to fed hill after what felt like an eternity (but was probably only 45 minutes) in fells. fed hill was much better, crowded bars without the crowded streets. however, i was still reminded of why i hate crowds and couldn't wait to be whisked home by taxi in the early morning. i didn't go out to baltimore for months after that, and i've never been to another halloween in the city
i have never personally been one of these belligerent people so it's hard for me to imagine why anyone thinks this drunken behavior is appropriate. i like to go out with friends for happy hour, bar hop and/or celebrate special occasions with drinks. i don't like disturbing other people and/or getting arrested. even when i was in undergrad and drinking more, we didn't behave so disrespectfully. when you're living in a small town (houses away from your professors, administrators and coworkers), it's kind of hard to stay anonymous for long. there were stories of students getting extremely out of hand, but they were always identified and dealt with quickly by the school. depending on the offense, there may also have been a fine from the town. if steep fines in baltimore are what it takes to stop these people from acting like unruly children in public (or keep them from going out at all), i am all for it. the honor system doesn't exist in the outside world so new restrictions ought to be put in place
Monday, April 26, 2010
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3 comments:
Well, Halloween in Baltimore is well known to be a pretty spectacular holiday, but likewise I would like to see some more decorum in bar areas.
Having worked as a bouncer for a very busy and popular club for several years, I can tell you part of the problem is the odd approach by Baltimore police. On one night they will herd a violent drunk towards a bar so the bouncers will take care of it, and other times you have overzealous plainclothes officers working with uniformed officers to aggressively target excessive or underage drinking. I think it would help if there was a standard policy.
Having watched some of the news coverage of the more recent discussions, I think the new push has a lot to do with falling land values in Federal Hill receiving government attention.
I say fine every drunk soul that acts up. It becomes a nuisance trying to drive and people jumping out in the street or vomiting everywhere. fine them all.
I think that they are overdoing with the price and most of the people that they do that I think that they can't pay that fine.
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