Melbourne suspends gated street parties

from floridatoday.com:

"MELBOURNE — Melbourne will not allow gated street parties while the city takes a closer look at rules for the events and ways to curb problems created by their large crowds.

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"I think we're placing the city at risk and the citizens at risk," Councilwoman Molly Tasker said. "This will at least narrow some of that risk down."

A group that includes city leaders, business leaders, downtown groups and residents will look into what changes Melbourne should take for street parties. Recommendations should come back to city council in 90 days.

Attention focused on gated events after Meg O'Ween, an annual Halloween party hosted by the downtown restaurant Meg O'Malley's, most recently brought in an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people.

Police and other city workers say they were overwhelmed by the crowds, which in some areas were so tight that they had trouble getting through. One person involved in a fistfight was seriously injured after falling and hitting his head on the pavement.

Under the city's policies, gated events differ from other events hosted on public roads.

Groups can still get permits to shut down the street with barricades, similar to Historic Downtown Melbourne's Friday Fests and the spring Melbourne Art Festival. They cannot fence in the party.

But Melbourne City Council also put into place new rules that deal with all street events.

Those include:

# denying future requests to extend the hours for open containers and alcohol on the streets past midnight.

# ending amplified sound at 11 p.m.

# allowing party-goers to purchase only two drinks at a time.

# requiring 25 percent more restrooms for events, which have a sole purpose of drinking.

Staff had proposed ending the policy of having gated street events that allow businesses or groups fence off public areas and charge entrance fees.

The goal, however, is not to end street parties, which bring economic boosts to other downtown businesses and "keep local dollars local," City Clerk Cathy Wysor said, but rather to maintain control over them.

Owners of Meg O'Malley's said they want to work with the city to improve its policy for street parties.

"We've never been down there to be a bad neighbor," Meg O'Malley's co-owner LJ Burr said. "We've been down there to better business and the community."

Burr said he did not have a problem with some of the proposals, such as the bathrooms and alcohol sales.

But he did have concerns about eliminating the gate policy as well the proposed ending times for alcohol sales and sound.

Burr said events will still have to deal with managing crowds. Fences help manage the thousands of people who come each year to Meg O'Ween.

Meg O'Malley's has hosted 19 events in downtown Melbourne. Seven of those have been gated events"