Bottling the drunks

Trying to corral raucous behaviour that can have the downtown resembling Dodge City on a drunken Saturday night, council adopted a motion by Ward 2 councillor Jeff Lehman to beef up enforcement of liquor violations, notably over-serving.

A letter will be sent to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) requesting additional enforcement of possible liquor license offenses in the downtown core. Also, the city clerk’s office will take a look at alternatives “related to the review of future liquor licence applications, including the creation of a Liquor Licence Review Committee like the one in Kitchener.
A cap-the-booze local think tank is also in the works, with the AGCO, the downtown BIA, city police, and bylaw officials being invited to form a working group to consider ideas and measures to “reduce negative impacts associated with closing time,” and report back to committee.