CITY HALL — A City Council committee voted Tuesday to loosen restrictions on open alcohol at Navy Pier, while tightening weekend and late-night enforcement on sidewalk cafes.
Yet Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) quickly added that the new Navy Pier regulations, in his opinion, will not allow visitors to carry their drinks into the Chicago Children's Museum.
That measure, which Local Liquor Control Commissioner Greg Steadman called "unique to Navy Pier" at a License Committee meeting Tuesday, will extend the same rules on open alcohol currently in effect outside at Navy Pier to inside pier buildings.
Steadman said it was intended to make the pier — often ranked as Chicago's top tourist draw — more inviting to adults, "especially in the wintertime when nobody's outside."
Reilly added that it was "part of the vision for transforming the pier into a 12-months-a-year venue."
Pier visitors have been able to take alcoholic drinks bought at pier bars and restaurants outside to the walkway up and down the pier, but previously were barred from bringing them inside. Steadman said the new city ordinance, submitted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, would allow visitors to walk the indoor buildings with the same impunity, drink in hand, and even take them into other establishments.
Steadman emphasized, however, the drinks must be in the red colored cups and steins that identify the bar or restaurant where they were bought, and "BYOB will not be allowed."
Visitors will not be allowed to carry open drinks out of Navy Pier, nor into the parking garage, nor on tour boats leaving from the pier. Steadman said boat customers who have arranged to bring their own alcohol for some sort of group outing or event would be allowed to do so, but it will have to be unopened before being transferred to the boat.
Reilly added he believed businesses inside pier buildings, such as the Chicago Children's Museum and Chicago Shakespeare Theater, would still be able to set their own restrictions on bringing in open alcohol.
"I want to make sure Navy Pier remains a family-friendly venue," Reilly said. "I don't think you can take it into the Children's Museum. I sure hope not."
Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) also clarified that it would not extend to the Riverwalk, with the new rules exclusive to Navy Pier.
"We certainly shouldn't encourage a bunch of open alcohol up and down the Riverwalk," Smith said.
In other business, the committee also passed an annual extension allowing later hours for sidewalk cafes Downtown, allowing them to stay open to midnight, rather than the 11 p.m. closing time for cafes and beer gardens elsewhere in the city.
"It is appropriate to extend this hour during the summer season," Reilly said. "All in all, we think it's been a successful program, and we haven't seen any adverse effect to the quality of life."
Reilly added "having folks outside on the sidewalks actually improves safety," in that it puts more potential witnesses on the street to discourage crime.
He called the annual extension basically a formality, pending any actual chronic problems with the cafes.
Yet Reilly also pushed through a crackdown on sidewalk cafes extending their allowed "footprint" during late-night hours and weekends, "especially when there are not many city inspectors on the clock."
Commissioner Maria Guerra Lapacek, of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, agreed that "encroachment onto the public way" was a problem.
While declining to name any problem businesses specifically, Reilly added, "I can promise you that we have establishments that have routinely abused this privilege," extending sidewalk cafes 80 or 100 feet beyond their appointed boundaries or neglecting the 6-foot-wide clear path required on the sidewalk.
The new ordinance would allow the Department of Business Affairs to "designate" officers other than city inspectors to enforce fines on sidewalk cafes that exceed their allotted space or stay open after hours.
Reilly said it was intended to rein in "folks who take advantage of this privilege," adding that ward superintendents were apt to be designated enforcers to make sure laws are being observed.
"My ward superintendent works on weekends often," Reilly said. "I'd rather put his time to good use and have him writing violations on places that drive the neighbors and other businesses crazy."
The committee also passed a measure sponsored by Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) allowing rooftop businesses across from Wrigley Field to be open and sell tickets for concerts through 2018.
Tunney said this permission was previously granted on a "per-concert basis," but the new ordinance would streamline the process by simply allowing the rooftops to open for business for concerts same as for Cub games at Wrigley Field.
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