The idea is to prevent drunks from buying 40s of malt liquor and littering downtown with bottles.

Ever since the Scene did a grossly inaccurate hatchet job on the issues at Tent City, I've had little respect for the rag and even less respect for some of their writers. 

But this piece deserves a mention because it does bring up an issue that has been a real polarizer in the downtown area; the banning of single beer and "40" sales. 

From an addict's perspective, I can tell you that although I was never much into alcohol (buzz was dull and stupid, plus it made me an even worse idiot than I already was), those who are will overcome this pathetic attempt at a barrier with barely a grunt. 

Booze and "wash" will continue to flow freely amongst the folks who imbibe, and you'd think that city officials would have learned this lesson some 80 years ago when Prohibition reigned supreme for 13 years miserable years. 

All this ordinance will do is to force folks to switch to something a little different and perhaps a little more volatile for their personalities. 

One of my clients is gentle as a lamb when he's drinking Colt 45 or Old English.  When he picks up the Jack or SoCo tho, get the hell out of town because the man becomes an unpredictably violent drunk who blacks out and does things he's later ashamed of. 

I can just about guarantee that once again, in our zeal to try and remedy a problem, we inadvertently make the matter much, much worse.....

Nashville Launches New Front in War Against Poor

Posted January 06, 2009 at 01:17:12 PM by Jeff Woods

First, the police rousted the homeless from their cardboard sleeping places and handed out hundreds of $50 "quality of life" tickets. Then we made it illegal to beg anywhere after dark. Now, the council is thinking about banning inner-city markets from selling one beer at a time.

The idea is to prevent drunks from buying 40s of malt liquor and littering downtown with bottles. And here's the real beauty of this latest salvo in Nashville's war against the poor: It wouldn't inconvenience anyone who matters.

It would apply only to stores downtown and on two North Nashville streets where the drunks apparently are particularly bothersome. Of course, the beer still would flow freely at LP Field, and tipsy Titans fans still could litter downtown with their plastic cups. And the ordinance would include a "yuppie exception" for those tasty microbrewery products. You couldn't buy a can of Bud or PBR, but who cares? You still could saunter into any downtown market and walk out with a frosty bottle of Red Hook.

Unfortunately, as with many great ideas, it may be a little ahead of its time. True, all the yuppies living in downtown's luxury lofts and high-rise condos would love this law. But in what some observers might call a sweet little ironic twist, it's causing serious consternation within a different segment of the urban pioneer population--the

ones who live in all those cute remodeled bungalows just across the river.


If the drunks can't buy beer downtown, where will they go? That's what is worrying these residents. They foresee hoards of thirsty vagrants pouring up from their riverside encampments to hang out in plain view in East Nashville's parking lots, drinking and smoking and cussing.

Council member Mike Jameson, who represents parts of both downtown and East Nashville, is caught in the middle of this tragic dispute. The bill, sponsored by Erica Gilmore, is up on first reading at tonight's council meeting.

"There's an army of people downtown who are begging and pleading for this ordinance," Jameson tells Pith. "But the concern is that it may drive problems to the fringes of downtown and put problems in neighborhoods that already have problems and don't need any more."

Luckily, we can offer an easy solution. Instead of passing this ordinance, why don't we enforce the existing laws against loitering and public drunkenness? Does anyone really think that banning single beer sales will stop homeless alcoholics from drinking? They'll buy mouthwash and drink it instead, according to social service workers. Scope is already increasingly popular on the street. So while we're at it, we might try to develop a few new ways to help to these people deal with their  addictions. I know, I know. I'm talking crazy again.