Fletcher Pace is the latest neighborhood in Indianapolis to consider an outdoor drinking area.
The Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area would allow adults to drink alcoholic beverages in designated cups while walking along Virginia Avenue from East Street to McCarty Street. While Fountain Square is close by, businesses there would not be included in the proposal.
Kimberli Hudson, vice president of the Fletcher Place Neighborhood Association is leading the initiative. She said it could attract more clientele to help boost the local economy.
“It would be a very small area, but it would be very powerful and helpful for the local businesses,” Hudson told Mirror Indy. “Especially as a lot of service businesses, restaurants, bars, and whatnot have been slowing down with the economy.”
Brian Spony, manager of Four Finger Distillery, said he hasn’t heard much about the new proposal, but he appreciated a previous ordinance that temporarily allowed similar alcohol usage when the city hosted Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.
“It’s great because people just get a cocktail or a beer to go and just walk around to another business,” Spony said.
The neighborhood association voted at a meeting Aug. 11 to move forward with the plan. Not everyone agreed. Some residents were concerned about littering and noisy patrons leaving nearby bars.
But, most residents seemed largely supportive.
Stephen Williams lives about two blocks away from the neighborhood’s business district. He said the vibe of the community will set the tone for how people act if an alcohol ordinance is implemented, and he doesn’t think the neighborhood’s atmosphere would bring significantly increased littering or public intoxication.
“Do we have to pick up a bottle every once in a while in the neighborhood? Yeah, we do,” Williams said. “You’ve got the Dugout, you’ve got the other venues where lots of people hang out. Could that increase? Probably not, in my opinion.”
Some residents were also concerned about higher insurance premiums for local businesses. The city could require businesses opting into the outdoor drinking area to amend their insurance policy to address liability concerns.
The neighborhood still has a long road ahead before the outdoor drinking area could be implemented. City-county councilors would have to vote on the proposal before sending it to the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission for final approval, according to a city ordinance passed last year.
Councilor Kristin Jones, a Democrat who represents Fletcher Place, did not respond to Mirror Indy’s request for comment about whether she supports the proposal.
The idea comes nearly a year after Irvington became the first Indianapolis neighborhood approved to allow outdoor drinking. City officials still are working out exactly how that will work in Irvington, so the area hasn’t opened yet.
The town of Speedway has an outdoor drinking designation, too.
The city of Beech Grove voted on the idea but failed to garner enough community support earlier this summer.
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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