Ban on high-content alcohol

Ban on High-Content Alcohol - Public Hearing Tomorrow!

author: Damos Abadon

A Ban on "high-content/highly fortified" beer & wine is being proposed by Portland City Council. This down town prohibition is little more than an attack on the poor & will do NOTING to address any problems!

Portland City Council is considering a ban on so-called "high-content" alcohol in a misguided, poorly thought-out, guaranteed ineffective attempt at curbing down-town drunkenness. This [proposed] ban will cover all of down town, including parts of Goose Hollow. In a city with a tendency towards well-intentioned but poorly thought-out proposals, this one is probably one of the dumbest i've seen yet. Supposedly targeting the homeless who reside [mostly] in dt, such a ban will also directly affect residents/tenants as well. Turning downtown Portland into some sort of "alcohol high-impact" zone won't do a damned thing to address the "problems" it's supposedly intended for. It won't do anything to stop some people from simply hopping the MAX to the nearest corner stores in NE/SE to buy high-content booze & carrying it back into dt. It doesn't do anything to address the crowds of drunken club-goers who rove all over dt at night/on the weekend (i'm pretty sure that most alcohol-related crime in dt can be attributed to people leaving clubs & bars, NOT the homeless). And this ban would also punish dt residents who buy whatever (including tall boy 16 oz. cans/sixpacks & some wines) & take it back to their apts.

Besides Councilwoman Amanda Fritz, who's pushing for this in the first place, other people supporting this ban are pretty-much who you'd expect: the Portland Business Alliance (who were behind the "Sit & Lie" ordinance) & snooty bourgeois Pearl district socialites. On its surface, this ban is little more than [yet another] front for ridding dt Portland of "undesirables", which would be bad enough. But this will also affect working-class people, poor students, people who simply buy/drink what they want & mind their own business (including many homeless).

City Council will be hearing PUBIC TESTIMONY on the proposed ban on Wednesday Sept. 15th at 6pm at City Hall. Please attend & let Council know that PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK & to cease this aggression on the poor. And just because YOU don't live in dt doesn't mean this doesn't affect you - it might. If Fritz & City Council feel that there is not strong opposition to this ban, they WILL enact it. The "problem/s" won't go away, they'll only shift & then Council & various interests will be proposing a CITY-WIDE ban. This is how it starts, people...