Columbia bars support extended World Cup serving hours, but feel City Council could have gone further
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Bars in Columbia will be able to stay open later during this year’s World Cup, but not for as long as some had hoped for.
The Columbia City Council unanimously voted on Monday night to approve an ordinance that extends the time bars can sell alcohol and stay open on certain days a FIFA World Cup game occurs. The tournament starts in June.
State lawmakers last year approved a law that would allow bars to sell alcohol from 6 a.m.-5 a.m. during the duration of the World Cup from June 11-July 19.
Columbia on Monday opted to allow bars to stay open until 2:30 a.m., an hour later than normal. However, after discussion amongst city leaders, the council voted to only allow bars to stay open later during select days of the World Cup, when game start times are later. Bars will also have to apply for a special permit to be able to do so.
Sal Nuccio, owner of Eastside Tavern, called the hour extension “not much.” He said he doesn’t believe the city is fulling allowing businesses to take advantage of the opportunity. He said he didn’t believe most bars in the area would have stayed open for the full 23 hours, even if they were allowed to do so.
“We’ll take it. But I mean it’s a shame because it’s really an opportunity for a lot of small businesses to catch up on a lot of stuff by bringing in all that extra money,” Nuccio said. “It would be a benefit to the city and state, too, because we would all have to pay sales tax on all that extra money we made.”
The city had considered allowing bars to serve alcohol for 23 hours, but later decided to opt out of that over fears it could put a strain on public safety resources and following pushback from a local commission in the city.
Columbia Police Department Chief Jill Schlude told city leaders on Monday the 23-hour law would not allow police to effectively plan..
She also noted games aren’t held every night and soccer games are only 90 minutes long, with added time for extra breaks. She said she felt it would help police if there was a set closing time and specific dates CPD could be made aware of.
“I’ll be very transparent, that’s my concern is that we’re going to have establishments that this isn’t about the World Cup, it’s just about staying open until five in the morning and serving booze,” Schlude said during Monday night’s meeting.
The dates bars will be allowed to apply to stay open later inlcude:
June 14
June 17
June 20
June 21
June 23
June 27
July 3
Schlude said she also believed doing so would allow for restaurants to better prepare to stay open later on certain nights.
Nuccio said he also believed that bars should not be required to apply to stay open later, calling it “ridiculous” to have to go through the city to do so. He also said with students typically out of town during the season, summer is a slower time for a lot of bars downtown. He said the extra hours would have been beneficial to businesses.
The city noted on Monday night that some bars had cited staffing issues for their reasoning of not wanting to partake in the extension. Nuccio said while it would have been difficult, he was willing to make it work.
“It would have been extra work for me because I would have just hired extra security people. But, I would have had no problem because I got more money coming,” Nuccio said. “I’ve been thinking about this for months. I already talked with my staff about [extended hours] and everybody was like, ‘It would be something else, it would be an adventure, would be some hard work,’ but once we get through it, I think we’d all be happy that we did it.”
Ward 5 Councilman Don Waterman told ABC 17 News on Tuesday afternoon after Monday’s vote that he felt the changes were a fair compromise and something the council, including himself, felt comfortable doing. He believes the approved measure allows for the police and fire departments to prepare, while also helping local bars out.
“It still gives them an hour and a half to celebrate, commiserate, whatever; and so I think it was a good compromise,” Waterman said. “Plus, with the current police shift running 3-to-3, you’re going to be able to get you know the bar helping people out. If they have to go to extra staffing for another hour because of that, that’s better than otherwise.”
Harmon Colvett, assistant manager of International Tap House, said while an hour extra to stay open isn’t a lot of time, it’s better than no extra time. Colvett also said he doesn’t foresee having staffing issues at his bar and that he understood the city’s concerns.
“I also work an ambulance service, so I completely understand where the city’s coming from. Every hour open is another hour for silliness and bad decisions,” Colvett said. “I hope that the police and the City Council have an effective plan in place.”
The city also voted to allow bars to apply for one permit for $100, rather than having to apply multiple times. The city also decided against regulating how many bars are eligible to apply for the permit.
Amy Schneider with the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau said the city had not received any applications as of Tuesday afternoon.