Results tagged “publicdrinking”

Mayor Bloomberg, you really won some votes talking about bringing back the Brooklyn trolleys, but you'd really win over the city if you allowed public drinking in parks. The NY Post reports that he recently addressed the no-drinking policy, saying, "I never understood why we don't let you drink in the park." However, he didn't show any signs that he'd be changing the policy, only saying, "We don't let you drink in the park. I mean, you go to watch the Philharmonic, you can't have a bottle of wine." In the past he has suggested that a bottle of wine while watching something akin to the Philharmonic is okay—something that was called out for being a classist sentiment. Recently Marty Markowitz was also supporting a form of drinking in public, after he was spotted with a glass of white on a stoop in Brooklyn (but he wasn't fined, like the Brooklynite drinking a beer was).

The NY Times delved into the legalities of public drinking during this hot and hedonistic summer season. Is it illegal? Yes. But they do note that "in the summer of 2003, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suggested that drinking wine at concerts in Central Park was O.K. At Bryant Park on July 7, a security guard said he turned a blind eye to booze on movie nights, 'so long as it is covered, like in a bag.'" Some outdoor revelers really do set up shop in the parks: One man described his elaborate makeshift bar that includes 12 bags of frozen mix, light, dark and coconut rums, 20 blankets, and a potato masher for mixing. Gonna need more than a brown paper bag to conceal that set-up!

Drinking in New York has long been reserved for private homes or establishments with liquor licenses (or speakeasys!), but how well is the law enforced when it comes to drinking on a stoop or in a public park? Apparently, and unfortunately, the law is still being upheld very well. A few years back the tabloids wondered why cops looked the other way when it came to Chardonnay swilling audiences listening to the symphony in Central Park, while the beer-drinking crowd at a 9/11 memorial in Rockaway incurred plenty of fines.