New poll: a dry Fourth of July?
Closing the old poll...
Time to close the old poll question, "Would you like to see a Wal-Mart on Gateway Drive?", which garnered more votes (77) than any previous poll on this blog. I'm impressed with the number of votes and the interest expressed from both sides of the debate. Click here to check out the results.
Overall, many readers don't seem all that keen on the possibility of Wal-Mart setting up shop on Gateway Drive. "No" received 57% of the vote, while "Yes" got 42%. 1% of the voters were undecided on the matter. Interesting results. Since so many seem to think I'm such a fan of Wal-Mart, I'll just leave debating the outcome up to you.
By the way, you're now able to easily access the results of all previous Grand Forks Life polls. Just click here. There is also a link right below the voting box on the left side of the screen.
Opening the new poll...
I'm taking the topic of my most recent post - consumption of alcohol at the Grand Forks Sertoma Fourth of July celebration - and turning it into the new poll question: "Would you like to see the annual GF Fourth of July celebration become an alcohol-free event?". Happy voting.
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12 comments:
Yes, please...I commented to my family how sad it was that they had to have beer stands in the town square next to all of the kids events and family oriented activities. With the city #2 in binge drinking in the nation, plus the city giving lip service to trying to reduce risky behaviors, why on earth would they serve beer? silly
I think GF events could have a beer garden, like other cities. It's a confined area and alcohol can only be consumed within.
Restricting alcohol is fine for families, but we should include a place for singles and young couples to imbibe responsibly.
Alcohol has to be one of, if not THE, most misunderstood issues is America. The bottom line is that we all have to work towards changing the mindset of what speficially alcohol is in our society. Change it to what? Change it to...just another adult product that's seen on the shelf at the store, in a restaurant, whereever it is. The tighter restrictions seem to be creating some liquid holy grail of life thing. Know what? It ain't workin'.
More regulation? I think not.
Changing a country wide mindset? It's worth a shot.
How come other countries acheive this status for beverage alcohol?
Excellent point. A lot of it's owed to our provincial society. Italians and French introduce watered-down wine to their children in pre-teen years and they have a very low incidence of alcoholism and binge drinking.
Same can be said for discussion of sex and sexuality in European countries. Far fewer single mothers and abortions.
I'm of the same mindset as the last post from Anonymous.
I'm also not too keen on people looking to close out options for other people just because they happen not to like a certain activity.
And since when was drinking a non-family activity? You telling me that once you become dad you don't have a beer while watching the game anymore? No beer at the barbecue because the kids are around? Do a poll on that and see what you find.
It's not the people that have a beer with the Red Pepper I am worried about...it is the people that have too much and then drive in the downtown area when there are thousands of pedestrians around, or the ones I saw that decided to walk on the railroad tracks when a train was coming...as far as the beer gardens are concerned, there are eight bars within two blocks of the town square. I would say that was opportunity enough
My girlfriend & I went to the 4th of July event in GF and we only noticed *one* beer stand that was open. it had nobody in line. Pretty much all day, too. I didn't see a whole lot of people stumbling around drunk either.
Where I'm from, we see a *lot* of that. Our area (Silicon Valley, too) events are usually the same old boring ass "art & wine" festivals. I'm an EMT, and I spend a lot of time helping out drunks that fall off curbs.
We thought the Grand Forks 4th was great. Longest fireworks display I've ever seen. WAY longer than what we get in the Bay Area - and that's if the SF fog doesn't totally obscure them. :-(
I'd be curious to see what the GFPD thought about the whole thing and see the list of events.
And for the previous thread, yeah, there were a few.. um.. ethnic looking teenagers.. that were swearing & acting like total idiots. A couple were throwing firecrackers near people as well.
But there were only a couple. A very small amount. Again, out in our area, idiots like that keep the police department *very* busy and can almost ruin events.
The farmers market in downtown Sacramento was actually cancelled because there were too many unruly teenagers using it as a playground and gang activity was on the rise. Very sad.
Like Ben, I wonder why those who want to drink at an event like this can't just go to one of the many bars in the area.
On a side note, was I the only one who started to get kinda nervous when the train come over the bridge in the middle of the fireworks? With so many people around...at least a few drunk...I was wondering how it was gonna go. Luckily, the train was going quite slowly. Stil...could have turned out bad...
Maybe I wasn't overly clear in my earlier posts. I didn't notice tons of drunk people or unruly people at the event. Overall, I had a great time and thought it was a great day. However, can't we do it without beer at a city sponsored event (in a city park)? Also, I wonder if a permit was required like the one at Springfest...or if since the students were gone nobody cared if a permit was issued?
Did you guys really see a lot of drunk folks there? I didn't run into any at all. And like I said, that beer stand had nobody in line.
The train was interesting. We were sitting right over near it. The GFPD ran over and chased people off of the tracks.
GF City Code:
21-0223. Consumption on public streets or alleys.
It shall be unlawful for any person to consume any alcoholic beverages, or to serve, sell, or possess an open container which contains alcoholic beverages, upon any public street, alley, highway or public sidewalk within the City of Grand Forks, except when such street or portion thereof is included within an area for which the city council has granted a license.
Thanks, that's not on point though. The topic is the fact that at an event, open to the public, with a special events permit, persons of legal drinking age ARE permitted to roam and don't have to be in an enclosed area ie. a "beer garden". That's the way it is and, that's the way it should be.
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