|
A Newark city commission has been working to design a blueprint for the uniform handling of alcohol regulations since late November in Newark.
Created by Newark Mayor Hal Godwin, the Mayor’s Alcohol Commission (MAC) is composed of members of the community including individuals involved in alcohol-related businesses, as well as city officials, and representatives of UD and the Building Responsibility Coalition.
The group’s work may involve changes in zoning laws, fines, ordinances and enforcement tactics.
“I thought it would be best to bring together people who are involved on a daily basis with alcohol-related situations to draw up a framework or outline for some decent goals that we would like to see our ordinances address,” Godwin said. “We wanted to get all different factions involved in the design of our alcohol policy.”
One of the main tasks of the commission, according to Godwin, is the need to find a balance between the needs of the business community and the effects of alcohol-related behavior on the community.
While the commission has the responsibility to make recommendations to the mayor and City Council, any regulatory changes to the city’s alcohol policy would require council approval.
“They are bringing these issues to the table, and the commission is drawing up a list of things to consider,” Godwin said. “This will help us decide what our laws should achieve in helping to make Newark a family-friendly community.”
Godwin said he welcomes this effort and believes the group will provide Roy Lopata, commission chairperson and director of the city of Newark’s Department of Planning, with a wealth of new ideas and information from which to draft recommendations to city council members.
“The committee represents a cross-section of the community,” Roy Lopata, said. “We have people from the University, the city, a bartender and a member of the Newark community.”
Joining Lopata on the commission are John Bishop, project director for the Building Responsibility Coalition, Gerald Conway, chief of Police in Newark; Lee Frankel, UD trustee; Lloyd Kline, Newark resident; Ruth Lehman, a Newark bartender; Edwin Miller, a former Newark City Council member and owner of an alcohol-related business; Bill Sharp, member-at-large, who operates an alcohol-related business outside the city; Tim Thompson, owner of The Trap restaurant; Lawrence Thornton, UD’s director of Public Safety; and Joseph Wald, a member of the Newark Planning Commission.
According to Thornton, the creation of the commission represents a positive step in bringing together members of the University and Newark communities to work together toward the common goal of curbing the uncivil behavior that results from the over consumption and irresponsible dispensing of alcohol.
Thornton said he is encouraged by the work of the committee and feels confident that the recommendations made to the mayor and council will be helpful as they deliberate ways to improve the quality of life in the city.
The mayor has set April 1 as the date for the commission to report its recommendations for dealing with alcohol-related problem areas to city council.
“The commission has been working in overdrive to meet the mayor’s deadline,” Lopata said. “Council will review the recommendations and then decide which ones they want to adopt.”
Interested members of the UD and Newark communities are welcome to attend MAC meetings, which are open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m., Friday, Feb. 22, in the Newark City Council chambers. Follow-up session dates and times are decided at the end of each meeting.
“I think that we have a tremendous group of volunteers,” Godwin said. “I’m looking forward to that report. I think we will all be surprised by what this commission will accomplish.
Feb. 20, 2002
|
