Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Your presence is desperately needed tonight to speak against the Lights Out ordinance which seeks to apply additional rules and regulations to businesses open past 11pm on Balboa Peninsula.
We are a tourist destination and people come here to have a good time. People enjoy good times, and reasonable people enjoy others having a good time, too. Because we are such a densely populated commercial district filled with tourists, we do occasionally have alcohol-related problems– but not too badly. Did you know that last year Newport Beach had the lowest crime rate in the HISTORY OF NEWPORT? In fact, of all the alcohol-related reports last year, more than half of those occurred both in the summertime AND were not even bar-related. That means that people purchased their alcohol at places like Pavilions and then went out on their own and danced on the sidewalk (or whatever they do). It also means that of all the places to consume alcohol, bars have the least amount of problems.
If the council is considering the Lights Out ordinance in combinations with a new Nuisance Ordinance, I think we can see that they would be targeting the businesses that actually provide the safest place to have a good time.
Our businesses, bars, and restaurants are better and more calm than they have ever been in memory. Business owners do not need any additional restrictions or government intrusion.
Now, the city has technically complied with the Brown Act, sending out information on this hearing 72 hours beforehand. I believe this is too short of a timeline for something as significant as forcefully changing regulations on business; a business needs more than 72 hours of notice to digest this type of information to be able to speak for or against it, but that was their call. The short notice makes some believe that the city has tried to “slip this one through”.
YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED: Today is the only day we can speak out against the Lights Out ordinance.
WHERE: Newport Beach City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660
WHEN: TODAY, Tuesday February 10th at 7pm
