10/10/2012
A special meeting about the problems in Old Town.. I don't think it would eliminate the problem, but the "under 21" bar crowd sure can't help matters. I remember when I first saw the area that was to be old town in the early 80s. A bunch of run down buildings and bars that were barely scraping by. Can you say "ashes to ashes"? This reminds me of the story of Crossroads Mall in OKC. I always wondered why what was a pretty decent mall on the south end of OKC failed in jut a very short period of time. Still open but barely. Why? After a period of security issues, people gave up. Well, I'm afraid we're looking at the same story here. Some of my favorite restaraunts are / were in Old Town. Bad for them, because I haven't been to OT for dinner in months, ever since all of the crap down there started. I still do go downtown, but it's now in the afternoon or early evening. The bar owners who are pulling in the big crowds, enticing the under 21s to get their door count up, your future is going to be a short one. I own a scanner, and on any given Friday or Saturday night, the name "Doc Howard's" and a couple of other bars come up more times than I can count. I've never been there, and I'm pretty sure it's not a club that would interest me. But what does interest me is how a small group of clubs is causing a big problem for an area that took over a decade to renovate. Instead of enforcing laws to usher people back to their cars and out of town, let's try to instead entice a better crowd to come downtown to shop, dine, and party. I'm not sure exactly where the problem starts, but it's pretty easy to tell when (after 1AM) and where. Maybe the problem needs to be addressed at the source instead of passing a bunch of laws that inhibit the street vendors, the downtown patrons, and the business owners that are doing it right. Let's get it done, guys.
