Allan Appel File Photo
Despite a last-minute battle to block a new law — including charges of elitism — aldermen voted to put an end to drinking in Lighthouse Point Park.
It happened over the objections of West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson, who fought to the end to prevent the passage of the booze ban. He said aldermen should not be taking away the rights of responsible adults to sip wine at Lighthouse Point, the only public park where drinking has been legal. He also charged that the city’s park drinking policies create a system in which wealthy people can drink while poorer people cannot.
East Shore Alderwoman Arlene DePino, the champion of the booze ban, said the prohibition is necessary to prevent the drunken misconduct that her constituents and local top cop have been complaining about.
The legislative showdown took place Tuesday evening in City Hall’s aldermanic chamber, where Alderman Goldson put up two amendments to try to scuttle or alter DePino’s proposal. His efforts were ultimately fruitless. The Board of Alderman voted 17 to five, with one abstention, to ban booze in Lighthouse Point Park. When the bill is signed into law, the park will join the rest of New Haven’s parks as places where public drinking is forbidden.
Tuesday night’s vote marked the end of process that began over a year ago, at the Board of Parks Commissioners. That’s where Alderwoman DePino first floated the idea of the ban. She said drinking in Lighthouse Point Park had gotten out of control, endangering the families who want to enjoy the park in peace.
The proposal found its way through the City Plan Commission in February, then was subject to public hearings in March and May of this year. After hearing East Shore’s top cop at the time, Lt. Jeff Hoffman, and others speak in favor of the ban, the Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee passed the item to the full board in May with a favorable recommendation. At the Board of Aldermen meeting in June, however, objections from Alderman Goldson sent the matter back to the committee to be reconsidered.
In July, the Legislation Committee again held a lengthy public hearing on the proposal, and came to the same conclusion it had before. It again recommended it to the full board, which is how Legislation Committee Chair East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar again found himself raising to present the matter to his colleagues on Tuesday night.
He outlined the bill’s long trajectory. He noted that his committee had heard “extensive testimony in support” of the ban from local alderman, police, and community groups.
DePino (pictured) rose to ask for support for the measure. She said that Hartford, Waterbury, and Bridgeport all prohibit drinking in all their public parks.
West River Alderman Yusuf Shah said he also supports the plan. He added, however, that the numbers do not show that the public endangered drinking at Lighthouse Point. Police have made only five drunk and disorderly arrests in the park since 2005, he said. “I hardly see this as a public safety risk.”
Dixwell Alderwoman Katrina Jones and Fair Haven Alderwoman Migdalia Castro spoke out against the bill, but not as vehemently as Alderman Goldson. He stood up to say the bill amounts to treating adults like children. Police already have the laws to enforce standards of behavior in the park, he said. He said the Board of Aldermen should be dealing with more pressing issues, like crime and education and street repair, rather than taking away the rights of responsible adults. “Enforce the laws we have. Don’t make another one,” he said.
DePino responded that constituents are very concerned about drinking in the park “The people want to be heard and they deserve to be heard.”
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Goldson, as in a previous meeting, put forward an amendment flipping the booze ban on its head. Instead of making drinking illegal at Lighthouse Point Park, as it is in all other parks, he proposed making drinking legal in all other parks, as it is at Lighthouse Point.
Why is it legal in Lighthouse Point and nowhere else? Goldson asked. He said he often sees people drinking out of paper bags in Edgewood Park without bothering anyone.
Through a point of clarification, Goldson discovered that drinking is in fact allowed in all parks — if one secures a permit from parks department director. That revelation gave Goldson more ammunition, for a charge of elitism.
“So if you have the means and the connections, you can drink in a public park?” Goldson asked.
“That is perhaps the most inflammatory way” of stating the case, Lemar said. But yes, you can.
Goldson objected to a situation in which certain privileged people with means can “buy their way to public drunkenness,” while others are punished for drinking in public. He called again for an amendment legalizing public drinking in all city parks.
His amendment was voted down in a voice vote.
Goldson immediately put up another amendment. He objected to a provision in the proposed booze ban that permits drinking during private events in the carousel, if the event’s organizer rents the carousel and pays for an extra duty police officer. If liquor is to be banned in the park, it should be banned everywhere in the park, to prevent a system of haves and have-nots, Goldson said. The bill shouldn’t leave an area where people can “pay to get drunk,” he said.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker spoke up on behalf of his hypothetical nuptial celebration. “I hope I get married someday,” Elicker said. He said he might have his theoretical wedding at Lighthouse Point, and he’d like to have wine. “I’d ask my colleague from the 30th Ward [Goldson] not to ruin my wedding.”
After words of support from Edgewood Alderman Marcus Paca for Goldson’s new amendment, it was voted down in a roll call vote, 17 to seven.
Before the final vote on the booze ban, Goldson issued a final plea. “We are getting ready to vote to take away a small right that responsible adults have in this city.”
Goldson convince only four of his colleagues to vote with him against the ban: Mike Jones, Castro, Alfreda Edwards, and Katrina Jones. Paca abstained. The remaining 17 aldermen carried the vote and passed the ban, which will go into effect when the mayor signs the bill.