Covington drinking area popular with businesses, iffy with others

Business owners largely backed a proposed outdoor drinking zone in Covington at a public hearing this week, but residents and workers raised concerns about safety, cleanliness and the city’s cultural identity.

“If this doesn’t work, I’m going to be the first person to cut it off because I’m going to be the first person that is sitting on the street adversely impacted by it,” said Vice Mayor Shannon Smith, who both lives in and owns a business in the proposed area, via teleconference, “and I’m willing to take that risk because I want to see if it works.”

Smith effusively supported the measure, and her comments reflected what many business owners expressed at Tuesday’s public forum.

No official action was taken at the meeting.

Common consumption areas, or CCAs, are designated sections of the city where open container laws are exempt under certain conditions. Usually, containers in such areas have to be made of special materials and can’t exceed certain size limits. Beverages also can’t be taken out of the area.

Many know these areas by their Cincinnati moniker, a DORA. However, Covington’s proposal has several key differences from what’s in place in Cincinnati, most notably the lack of congregation areas and blocked-off streets.

“This is purely on the sidewalks,” said City Solicitor Frank Schultz. “People can carry drinks in special cups and participate in businesses along these sidewalks. The emphasis is on controlled, responsible mobility.”

Schultz gave a presentation outlining the boundaries of the proposed area and other details, including answers to some frequently asked questions. These included details about signage as well as an indication that the city would increase police patrols during proposed operating times.

Commissioner Tim Acri first proposed the idea in April, but the passage of an ordinance establishing an area hit a snag after some business owners pushed back, particularly regarding the boundaries of the originally proposed area. The board of commissioners voted to table a proposed ordinance twice in August.

The city has not yet produced a replacement draft ordinance, but it did release a new proposed area, represented in the map below, earlier this month. The map wasn’t meant to serve as a final version of the area but rather as a jumping-off point for public discussion. The proposed area is found mostly in the city’s central business district around City Hall on Pike Street.

The city proposed the following operating hours before Tuesday’s meeting:

• Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. 
• Fridays & Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. 
• Mondays (optional) from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. during Bengals and Reds games

Acri said the city ended up choosing the central business district because it had a low number of residents but a high number of businesses. He also stated the proposed area would serve as a kind of pilot for more areas that might come down the line.

Most of the speakers from the community were from the local business class, and more were in favor of the measure at the meeting than against it. Representatives from several business organizations, including the Northern Kentucky Chamber, the Covington Business Council and meetNKY, the region’s tourist bureau, all came out in favor of the CCA.

Many viewed the proposal as a way to get more people into their businesses and encourage retail shopping. While many were aware that others had concerns, most believed they could be mitigated with the right guardrails.

Business owner Janelle Givens said it would be an opportunity “just have more people walking along our streets, coming to our side of the river, where we have a lot more local businesses and family-owned companies, privately owned companies, than there is maybe downtown or across the bridge.”

There was one business owner who was not in favor of the measure: James Schafer, who was actually one of the people to push back against the original ordinances initially.

Why?

Covington already “has public intoxication problem,” Schafer said. “I sort of took a photo Saturday morning when I cleaned up vomit outside of my shop, four feet from the sign inviting people to come to this meeting.”

Dustin Steffen, who works as a doorman at Mainstrasse Village Pub, said the business perspectives that dominated the meeting failed to account for the experiences of the wait staff and other front-line workers who would be dealing with any “negative interactions” that might proliferate if the policy is enacted.

“We’re going to have to take the brunt of the majority of those interactions because, as we all know, people who are inebriated aren’t very reasonable, and they do not like rules at all,” Steffen said.

Other concerns included litter and the fear that establishing an area might, over time, morph the character of the city into a party town.

The commissioners, besides Acri and Smith, were less committed one way or another. Commissioner Tim Downing thought that if it were to be enacted, the commission should “go slow to make sure that we have every single detail outlined and established.”

Commissioner James Toebbe said that he personally thought the area would be “beneficial,” but said he would make his decision based on feedback he got from the community.

Mayor Ron Washington was likewise undecided and even expressed some uneasiness about it. He recounted his time growing up on 6th Street and having to witness public drunkenness during big events like Oktoberfest. At the same time, he understood why businesses would be in favor of it.

“Covington is a unique place,” Washington said. “A lot of people love coming here and living here and playing here now. Do we need to do this? I’m not sure that we do, but I know that we have to help our businesses survive.”