City Prohibits Glass Bottles on Downtown Streets

The City Council on Wednesday sent a clear message to those people who come downtown to party: Leave your beer bottles home or risk a fine and even some jail time.

Broken glass on downtown streets after events, susch as Get Down Downtown, and festivals has long caused a lot of heartburn among council members who have debated what to do about it.

The council members have been reluctant to blame the bar owners downtown for allowing glass bottles to leave their establishments. They are reluctant to anger festival goers who are drawn to the city's downtown attractions.

After struggling with the issues for more than a year, there was no discussion before Wednesday evening's vote prohibiting glass bottles in public areas and public rights-of-way. Broken bottles and glass on the downtown streets was becoming a liability.

Now anyone who brings a bottle to a downtown festival will immediately receive a citation. The penalties for being caught with a glass bottle in the public rights-of-way — that means sidewalks, streets or parking lots — is a fine of up to $500 and as much as six months in jail.

"We have been told by the merchants that people are bringing the glass bottles to downtown," said Counciwoman Marianne Barnebey.

Councilman Patrick Roff said the broken glass after events had become a liability and is a special concern in Florida where sandals and flip flops are the preferred foot wear.

The broken glass ended up in parking lots because people dumped them out of their cars rather than take a chance of driving home with their empty containers. But Roff said the practice not only hurt the city's image, it hurts the downtown events. The idea behind the events is to raise money for various causes or to promote the businesses. To do that, merchants don't want festival goers bringing in their own drinks.

Now if they do, they risk a fine.