Kalamazoo City Commission adopts Social Gathering Ordinance

By Sebastian Fryer
Western Herald

The Kalamazoo City Commission voted to adopt the Social Gathering Ordinance at a city hall meeting on Monday, Nov. 1. The commission also voted to adopt an ordinance that revises Section 22-42 of the Kalamazoo Code of Ordinances, to bring Minor in Possession policies in line with state statute.

The Social Gathering Ordinance, which began as the House Party Ordinance, punishes landowners who hold parties at which underage drinking or illegal drug use occurs with up to $500 in fines and up to a misdemeanor in charges.

Vice Mayor Hannah McKinney, the only commissioner who opposed the ordinance, questioned the enforceability of the ordinance and stated her concerns of how it would affect college students.

“I don’t think that university college students understand how this could impact them,” McKinney said before the vote.

“I’m just not sure it’s ready yet.”

Commissioner Stephanie Moore, who helped draft the ordinance, stated that the community was well aware of the ordinance.

“This has not been under the radar screen, where no one knows or no one has had privy to the information,” Moore said. “It’s been made available.

“I do think that it is a step forward in terms of addressing underage drinking and makes a step forward in addressing the issue of substance abuse, which is extremely prevalent in our community,” Moore added.

While McKinney stated that she agreed with Moore’s sentiments about the prevention of underage drinking, she called the ordinance “largely symbolic.”

“Underage drinking is a problem. This ordinance [is] our stab at doing something about it as a commission. I just don’t think that this ordinance does anything more than sort of tax it symbolically,” McKinney said.

However, McKinney didn’t fault Moore for her dissatisfaction with the ordinance.

“Commissioner Moore put a lot of hard work into this and somehow it feels like she put a lot of work into it and the rest of us didn’t,” McKinney said.

“It just seems to me that this could have been better,” McKinney added. “I do not think this ordinance does what we want it to do.”

The Social Gathering Ordinance was passed on a 6-1 vote, with commissioners David Anderson, Don Cooney, Sean McCann, Stephanie Moore, Barb Miller and Mayor Bobby Hopewell voting to adopt the ordinance.

The commission also voted to adopt a different ordinance  concerning possession and consumption of alcohol by minors to comply with state statute after a recent Court of Appeals decision. By the new ordinance, minors are not required to submit to a breathalyzer test. The ordinance was approved unanimously by the commission.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 3 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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