Columbus may soon join other Mississippi cities such as Starkville and Oxford in having a leisure and recreation district, known as a “red cup district.”
The council and mayor discussed a draft ordinance for the red cup district at the Thursday morning work session at City Hall. Public hearings for the proposed ordinance have not been scheduled.
The draft ordinance details a geographical district downtown that will include areas where bars and restaurants are. Mayor Keith Gaskin told The Dispatch the area has not been “fully fleshed out,” but it could also possibly include parts of Burns Bottom.
Establishing the district will allow business patrons in the designated area to take an alcoholic beverage in a 16 ounce or smaller plastic cup from the premises throughout the district from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
“I don’t think you want people walking around with an open container at 1:30 in the morning, so we cut it off in this proposal at 11 (p.m.),” City Attorney Jeff Turnage said to the council. “That’s up to you all. You can set it to the closing of the establishment if you want to, but that’s 1:30 in the morning. If they walk out with their alcoholic beverage, there can be noise and disturbance for downtown residents.”
Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said there is a similar ordinance in Natchez, where he was previously chief. He said it worked well in his former city, and he agrees with the cutoff time of 10 p.m.
Daughtry said he would like the council to consider implementing a specific cup for the ordinance to help officers identify that a beverage has been purchased from a business in the district.
“I think it will give our downtown a little more life,” Daughtry said. “… It also means we would have to increase patrol presence downtown, which means we would probably have to put two officers down here on foot patrol.”
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens asked if the city would be prepared when “people get to walking and drinking and things happen.”
Daughtry said the officers, especially young officers, will need some training, but CPD would be prepared. He said people are already walking and drinking downtown, but it’s against the law without an ordinance.
Ryan Munson, owner of Munson and Brothers, said the ordinance would allow artists and businesses to bring in larger crowds. He pointed at the quarterly Burns Bottom Arts Festival held at his business that would benefit.
“In a lot of ways if you have a special cup, it’s going to give the restaurants a lot more participation in the downtown area,” Munson said.
“If you restrict it to the downtown area for the leisure district, there’s a lot of … restaurants concentrated in this area, so we’re trying to promote more activity so you can have buskers and artists.”
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