News Article: April 11, 2007
Council sends message to bar owners
Vancouver Courier
By Mike Howell-staff writer
April 11, 2007
City council has asked staff to draft a bylaw rolling back the 3 a.m. closing times of bars on the downtown Granville strip to 2 a.m.
If council enacts the bylaw, it will mean closing times would fall in line with other bars in the suburbs that close at 2 a.m. Police say the later downtown closing hours have attracted late-night drinkers from other parts of the city and suburbs.
Large crowds along the heavy concentration of bars have resulted in fights, stabbings, shootings and rowdy behaviour, including public urination. The later closing times began in 2003 during former mayor Larry Campbell's term.
When or if council will decide to roll back hours is unclear. City staff is expected to prepare a report to council within 60 days. Until then, the bars on the Granville strip will remain open until 3 a.m. on weekends.
"If we had ongoing issues and things did not get any better, then we would be revisiting that issue immediately," warned NPA Coun. Kim Capri, who recommended at an April 5 council meeting that bar hours be reduced.
Capri admitted rolling back the bar hours is not the only solution to reducing public disorder on the strip. She is concerned it could lead to the opening of more illegal, late-night booze cans.
But she said earlier closing times teamed with five of her other recommendations could significantly make the strip a more pleasant place.
Her other recommendations include:
* Increase fines related to public disorder offences, including fighting and public urination.
* Seek legislative changes to significantly increase collection rates on unpaid fines, estimated for the city at more than $860,000. Fines could be tied to provincial legislation so an offender would have to pay a fine before renewing his driver's licence or vehicle insurance.
* Request that TransLink extend SkyTrain and/or bus service leaving the downtown core to 3 a.m. The last SkyTrain going east leaves Burrard Station at 1 a.m.
* Request Vancouver cab companies provide more service in downtown between 1 and 3 a.m. (The suggestion, however, doesn't solve the problem that various cab companies refuse to take customers on trips to the suburbs. Vancouver police discovered in February that two undercover female officers were refused rides 26 out of 82 times.)
* Consult further with Police Chief Jamie Graham, bar owners, residents associations, business improvement associations and others to develop a plan for the entertainment district.
Council passed the recommendations involving increasing transit hours, the call for more cab service and seeking legislative changes for unpaid fines. The other recommendations have been referred to city staff for examination.
Vancouver police have been lobbying for surveillance cameras in the area. A sergeant is expected to present a report to the Vancouver Police Board in May on adding cameras on the Granville strip.
Capri excluded cameras from her recommendations because she wants to find out how much they cost and whether it's worth spending money on a tool that she considers more useful for capturing offenders than preventing crime.
Capri's recommendations come as the city's 90-day ultimatum to bar owners to come up with solutions to curb public disorder expired in March. The ultimatum was a recommendation outlined in Mayor Sam Sullivan's "Project Civil City."
John Teti, chair of Barwatch, an organization that represents more than 25 bar owners on the strip, repeated a comment he's been making for several months that late night bar hours aren't the problem.
Teti said there are no consequences for the people who misbehave on the strip. There has to be more enforcement and stiffer penalties. Without that combination, problems will continue, he added.
Over the last 90 days, bar owners have agreed with police to not allow patrons in bars after 2 a.m. Teti said the policy deters mass lineups and influx of patrons from other parts of the city and suburbs.
"It gets rid of a lot of people on the street between 2 and 3 a.m," he said.
Bars also hired eight security guards to walk the strip, and the bars continue to use metal detectors and scan patrons' drivers' licences when they enter a bar. While the concentration of liquor seats is often cited as a concern for police, Teti said the general population has also grown in the neighbourhood and areas such as Yaletown.
"I would suggest to you that liquor seats haven't kept up with the population," he said. "I would suggest to you that there were more liquor seats in the '60s down there than there are today, per capita."