If there was a way to allow public drinking under certain circumstances that would be a great plus...

Please...it's not about 'classism.'

A janitor drinking wine, listening to the philharmonic is less likely to cause a ruckus than a lawyer drinking a forty with his buddies.

Public drinking should be allowed, but public drunkenness and/or disturbing the peace (or similar) should be enforced strictly. Then, you can drink in public, but get drunk and act a fool and you're gettin' a summons.

Just what we need, a bunch of drunks barfing in Bethesda Fountain and then stumbling into the lake and drowning.

Can you imagine a Friday and Saturday night in the ghetto if public drinking were allowed. How many people have to be shot or stabbed before it is banned again? The ghetto dwellers can't control their liquor so they ruin it for the rest of us (again.)

this article is about drinking in parks. thanks anyway for your stupid rant. do you know the website for aryan nation? i'm sure a few of the other gothamist posters could point you in the right direction.

Oh I'm sorry, I meant to say:

Can you imagine a Friday and Saturday night in a PARK located in the ghetto if public drinking were allowed...

( just google "Idaho". )

Before the Guliani paper bag/bottle crackdown I remember a lot of women were afraid of walking around because of packs of drunk guys hanging around with paperbags in their hands. You didn't have to be detective to know what was going on. Any REASONABLE person knew what was going on and that it wasn't a positive thing.

Odd wine and cheese pairing in the photo...

So much for the principle of equal protection...

People love alcohol only for the buzz and catering to borderline alcoholics is never a smart idea.

many runners only run for the "buzz." should parks stop catering to them too? how did you get from buzz to borderline alcoholic in a grand total of 3 words?

"I never understood why we don't let you drink in the park."

Well Bloomy, it's probably because your predecessor, on whose coat-tails you rode in on, prefers to have the police waste resources on nonsense like drinking in public rather than fight real crime. It just so happens that the reduction in crime, which coincided with Giuliani's administration, has nothing to do with 'broken windows' bullshit theory but has everything to do with the economy and people having jobs.

The problem here ultimately lies in the very US concept of liability. In most of the rest of the world, if someone gets drunk and hurts themselves, it's their own damned fault. In the US, it's the trees fault for being in the way of a drunk person.

The simple fact is, it's just an extension of nanny-state BS. Americans ( sorry Canada, middle America and all of south America not you guys ) have a natural and overwhelming drive to NOT be accountable for their own actions. We need to change that. And a lot of things will fall right into place and America will be for the better because of it.

Can we just get rid of this 18th century puritanical law already?

Once in a while, on really hot days, I pour a beer into my Sigg water bottle and take my dog to the dog park. Dog is happy. I'm happy. Good for all.

ah yes, first the Bloomy bait....

I'm all for the drinking in public. But be warned. Britain has no laws about it in most places and it gets ugly. Really ugly, violence, serious injury.

So yes to open containers and yes to the drunk tank if you can't behave. I wouldn't want the parks turned into bars.

Exactly, longacre. In most European countries, drinking in public space is legal, and things are fine.

The main problem with Britons is that they become neanderthals as soon as the first sip hits their lips