2 a.m. bar closing goes down the drain for now
November 8, 2010 at 4:56 pm in Alexandria Echo Press
A request to allow Alexandria bars to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. is dead for now. Continue Reading
2 a.m. bar closing goes down the drain for now
14 Comments
According to statistics, 27 people lose their jobs in America every hour. I cant believe we are putting nearly triple the amount of jobs on the line because we cant keep the bars open for one more hour. 60 minutes! Thats it. People losing their jobs because of 1 hour? Way to boost the economy!!
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“Gail Murray, co-owner of Jerry’s Bar and Grill, said that too many people are already driving around over the legal alcohol limit. “People don’t need to be out after 1 a.m. drinking,†she said.”
Gail, that isn’t up to you to decide.
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I’m curious on how many of the employees think they would have kept their job if it was sold? Zorbaz is not Bug a Boo. Maybe they should have not bet the whole table on a seller that made 2am bar close a deciding factor.
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First – it sounds like te police should stake out Jerry’s Bar since the co-owner is saying lots of people are driving drunk there.
How about trying it for say 6 months and see if death and destruction occur?? I assume there are stats available from other towns who have extended the time??
While I do not like having someone issue an ultimatum – extend time or I will shut down and people lose jobs – It is very likely true that this would make a difference in economic compatability. I say try it and see hat happens.
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“Gail Murray, co-owner of Jerry’s Bar and Grill, said that too many people are already driving around over the legal alcohol limit. “People don’t need to be out after 1 a.m. drinking,†she said.â€
That’s an interesting comment coming from a co-owner of a bar that can be held liable if the patrons are leaving intoxicated. Did MN law change and now liquor establishments are no longer required to deny service to intoxicated patrons?
On the flip side, I must be missing something. How does denying a bar that last hour cause such a high loss of jobs and create such overwhelming competition? I’d like to know how many jobs are created by staying open an extra hour. I don’t recall where that would have been the case when my wife owned a liquor establishment. The existing employees would have just worked an extra hour. Most of them, including my wife, probably wouldn’t have liked the idea of having to work later into the night than they already did. Shoot, after fighting to get the last of them out and then cleaning up, it was often 3:00am or later before she got home as it was.
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Bob, you wouldn’t believe how the sales and tips increase dramatically during the last hour of alcohol sales.
As a former bartender, I was aways amazed when we called “last call” and people would line up and order TWO long island iced teas and a jag-bomb for THEMSELVES.
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City Council members you are a bunch of COWARDS! Sue Carlson isn’t it true you didnt want to be responsible for voting yes or no to the 2 am close? Well, congrats! You are responsible for 75 employees losing their jobs just before the holiday season! Your church must be so proud of you like the rest of Alexandria!
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Most of the opposition seemed to center around violations of the law by individuals, not the bars. Should we do a better job of enforcing the law? If not then we might suggest closing at 10 pm. to solve those problems!! This decision will cause jobs to be lost and tax revenue to disappear. If Bug-a-boo remains closed for as long as Old Broadway it certainly will not have the tax value it would have as a ongoing business. If three bars remain open 1 extra hr. for 4 days a week with an average of 10 employees working that figures out to 120 additional employee hrs. Makes sense in these times. Maybe the city would consider moving $80,000 from the Municipal liquor funds to pay for an additional police officer to help control all this lawlessness. That would be 1 more job. Think people, we need a business friendly city government.
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Why is this issue so hard to comprehend? The only topic of discussion here is ONE hour!! How can we compare more drunk drivers, accidents, blah blah blah to being open one more hour? Dont you people understand? A person leaves the bar at 1pm after lunch and a couple drinks….. A person leaves the bar at 7pm after a few drinks at dinner…..A person leaves the bar at 10pm to get home to go to sleep. NO matter what time it is, there is always people leaving the bar at any given time, on any given day. Whether someone drinks from 8pm to 9pm, or 1am to 2am, its the same!! So now, tell me how ONE more hour is so relevant to increasing the amount of illegal drivers or accidents? Think about it? And think about what we are giving up to help boost our economy and community. We are known for the Chain of Lakes, and thats what brings people to Alexandria. Lets show them a good time when they are here!!!
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Where is our normally talkative mayor on this issue? Come on Dan – talk to us????
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Although I agree one more hour should not be a problem, blaming the city council for people losing their jobs is absurd. Did the council buy bug a boo knowing it might not be open long? Did the council hire these people with the promise of having a job forever? Did the council set the high prices that deter people from going there in the first place. The answers are no. Its easy to just pass the blame and fault and is nothing more than an escape goat. The owners bought the business, hired the employees, now they need to do more than pass the blame on someone else.
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I do not blame the mayor & council for creating the situation. I do blame them for what appears to be a gutless maneuver of no one seconding the motion – thereby having no discussion on a sensitive issue. Plus no one standing up and defending what in effect was a NO vote. So – they did not create the problem – but when faced with it they did not stand up and deal with it – either up or down. The mayor is on the radio everytime there is a 3 car parade in town – why is he underground??
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Sounds to me like the person that made the motion failed to prepare for it by making sure he/she had support going in. It would seem the prudent thing to do would be to do a little more prep and then move it again to get it on the table for discussion.
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