Open container law will continue to be enforced

Recently there have been a number of news articles, some letters to the editor and an editorial about the City of Charleston's open container law, which prohibits open containers of alcoholic beverages in public areas, streets, sidewalks, parks, etc. I will seek to explain the law, the reasons for it and its history.

The law is not new. It was passed in 1977 by City Council at the urging of then-Police Chief John Conroy. It has enjoyed the support and appreciation of subsequent police chiefs, both Chief Reuben Greenberg and now Chief Greg Mullen.

This law is not novel to Charleston. In fact, most cities in America have a similar ordinance, including Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, Key West and Williamsburg. By and large the overwhelming majority of American cities have an ordinance similar to Charleston's.

The reasons for this ordinance are easy to understand. If people can drink alcohol on sidewalks, streets and public places, then the nature of those places can change and can develop the atmosphere of a bar.

The ordinance that we passed in 1977 was the result of concern in certain neighborhoods that people would go into a bar or a corner store, buy beer and then stand out on the sidewalks and drink it. Before long the atmosphere of that sidewalk changed and non-drinking residents who would pass by would be intimidated by the change in atmosphere. When the police would be called because the citizen didn't like the idea of boisterous people under the influence occupying the streets in their neighborhood, the police would have a difficult time convincing the beer drinking citizen that he was doing anything wrong. Thus the ordinance was passed and has been on the books for 31 years.

Over the years when someone was arrested for drinking beer or other alcoholic beverages on the sidewalk or when they were told by the police to either pour the contents out immediately or be arrested, the citizen would say, "This is unfair, I know you don't enforce this law downtown." The police officer's response would be, "We enforce it everywhere." And, of course, we should. Laws should not just apply to certain people, nor should they apply to certain neighborhoods. If there is a law on the books, it should apply to everyone.

Most commendably, Chief Mullen has made sure that no citizen can complain that this law is being unfairly enforced just on them. There is no way that the city can say it's OK to drink a glass of wine walking down a sidewalk in one neighborhood or the mythical mint julep on High Battery and yet tell a citizen in another neighborhood that their can of beer or cup of double malt is illegal and they are subject to being arrested.

Chief Mullen, with my support and at my direction, has taken reasonable steps to make sure that this law is enforced fairly and evenly across the board in every neighborhood and that every citizen is subject to it, not just a few.

Certainly if any citizen disagrees with this, their complaints should be made to me and not to our excellent police chief, Chief Mullen. The city does approve permits for events that serve alcohol in public places with conditions and accepted responsibility.

Recently, we have been responding to complaints in the French Quarter neighborhood (which is between Broad and Market, Meeting Street and Concord) about the noise and boisterous activity during late evening hours when patrons of bars are leaving the bars and going back to their cars in the neighborhood.

What if in addition to this, they were legally able to be carrying their beers or alcoholic drinks through the neighborhood on the way to their cars? If this was allowed, or if open containers were allowed on King Street, Meeting Street, East Bay Street or in shopping centers or elsewhere in our city, the nature of Charleston would change.

We should not want the nature of our city to change. Charleston is first, a place for people to live and neighborhoods to have order, peace and security.

The attention paid to the concert on the Fourth of July was also very reasonable and Chief Mullen's and the police department's actions were at my direction as well. What we had there was the Fourth of July being on a Friday, a nationally prominent band playing at our baseball park with 15,000 people in attendance and the opportunity, if not discouraged, for a lot of people to be seriously inebriated before the event even started. The concern there, of course, is not only that disruptive activity could develop at the event, but more importantly large groups of inebriated people leaving the event having to pass through the streets and highways of communities in this region creating substantial opportunities for alcohol-caused wrecks involving innocent people. Therefore, a policy to get the word out early that police would be keeping an eye on this was very important, and as it turns out, most helpful.

People have complained about the open container law often as a comment about our police department not focusing on more serious matters. A good police department focuses on every element of law enforcement. I am very proud to report that so far this year, through the work of Chief Mullen and our excellent police department, our violent crime rate is down about 16 percent. Also, traffic fatalities are down 33 percent and traffic accidents in general are down 11 percent.

Our police department is doing a great job, they are being led by a great chief and the city of Charleston is continuing to work to make sure that this is a city that is safe, enjoyable and peaceful for its residents, and at the same time a wonderful place to visit.

For 15 consecutive years, Charleston has been ranked as a top 10 travel destination in the United States. This year we received the number three slot and all this is being done without open containers of alcohol on our streets.

And that is the way it will continue.

Joseph P. Riley Jr. is mayor of the city of Charleston.