HomeMy Public PortalAboutOrr.pdfDear Mayor and Council,
I have been a business owner in the City of Tybee for almost 29 years. Basically 3 decades.
This current proposal of a ban on open container in the C1 District is literally incredulous and the most
dismal proposal from any Council I have dealt with in these decades. The City created a control zone and
festival zone to monitor and control the privilege of drinking and more to the point selling alcoholic
beverages. The C1 District on Tybee is designed for the leisurely strolling from shop to shop, restaurant
or pub with a cup of over 21 beverages if inclined as permitted. There are strict requirements in place
for the licensing and selling of alcohol and almost all of us are diligent in protecting our life's
investments from an incident occurring from an over 21 beverages. To that point, we are licensed and
insured to do so. We answer to liquor liability insurance companies with strict policies without exception
and who annually audit our sales, procedures, written policies and required staff Pour Safe training.
They monitor our taxes and any licensing infractions. We card and refuse service all day long. We only
sell 1 over 21 drink for 1 ID as the law requires. We have camera systems that document every
transaction and POS systems that can tell you when an item was ordered, the time any subsequent food
or beverage was ordered from this guest and when the check was closed. The industry average for sales
transactions is almost 85% credit and debit card. It is not difficult to track a guest spending in our
establishments.
These are your written laws and ordinances, and we must adhere to them or we can lose our livelihood
for any infraction.
There are many places on the island that you can drink without an ID or where no one will cut off your
service as you have had enough. You can drink from a cooler, cases of beer or bottles of alcohol that no
one trained or liable served you or carded you or is responsible for you. You can take a cooler anywhere
on Tybee and do this. These places are Alley 3, Alley 5, any area of the Beach, the Parks etc etc
Furthermore you can then walk in our establishment and you are now our problem, we are responsible
if we over serve you even if you got drunk on the City's property and bought 2 cases at Publix in Rincon.
WE have the privilege of a Liquor License and we are responsible for it. The Commercial District or C1 is
not the problem. You have licensing laws in place. If you have an issue it is because someone is
operating outside of the laws that regulate our business. Enforce the laws we have in place and expect
accountability for the privilege.
Another point is that this proposal flies in the face of what we are all doing to comply and protect our
guests and staff during this Pandemic. We are all running on 50% or less of our seating. We only have a
few or no bar stools as there is a 6ft social distancing rule in place. Many of us close early at 8pm or 9pm
as staffing is such a difficult issue. Guests line up down the street as there is no where to seat them or
their family for hours sometimes. There are 6 family friendly restaurants in the C1, Fannie's, Spanky's,
Sting Ray's, Bernie's and Lighthouse Pizza and of course Arby's. 2 Breakfast eateries. There are many
more Pubs/Bars that serve food if over 18 or 21. There are several establishments that their business
model is mostly to -go. Look at Wet Willie's, The Pier and many more.
They contribute considerably to this community and are striving to get through this Pandemic too.
Why would you even consider taking away outside alcohol drinks when there is such limited seating and
you and we want people to be outside and to take away food and beverage.
This does not make any sense!
All of us have had to change our business model in order to survive and to keep our staff working.
We have had to adapt to becoming "take out" specialists to conform, comply, protect ours and stay in
business. This proposal would financially put an even bigger burden on us and our staff and has
extraordinarily little to do with the problem. No one buys 24 beers or 10 Margaritas from our
establishments. We all usually get compliant and abiding Tybee guests. Any drunken behavior or illegal
activity rarely occurs on Strand or TYBRISIA in the 10-10 business hours but rather in the wee hours
which again is a separate issue. You also have laws in place and can demand accountability from that
licensee and address or file an infraction with those issues and individuals directly per incident.
Cities around the country are allowing to go cups for the first time to aide with the social distancing
challenges we all face in this business. You are proposing taking it away.
The City of Savannah just expanded its open container law to include Forsyth Park.
The biggest difference being they know that outdoors is the safest places to be and that there are not
seats for guests inside! Period! More to the point you cannot bring a cooler full of alcoholic drinks into
City Market, or River street or anywhere open container is permitted in Savannah.
In the City of Savannah, you cannot block the City's sidewalk with guests partying at your entry door.
The licensee must have stanchions outside and must have people in a line waiting their turn to enter the
bar. The licensee must maintain an organized wait line. This ordinance is enforced by the Fire Marshall
or Police. Any infractions go against your application for license renewal. You CANNOT hold a liquor
license in Savannah without obtaining liquor liability insurance first!
There are many things you can do to hold licensees accountable to conduct business as you desire or
require. There needs to be much further discussion on the solution to this subject.
Allowing one business to sell open container as they are not zoned C1, which is the highest and best use,
and penalizing or financially damaging the business in the district zoned, licensed and insured to do so
makes no sense at all. Dividing the small business community is something we will challenge.
Enforce the laws and ordinances you have, deal with the actual infringements or operators outside of
the codes.
There is also the question of who should and who must recuse themselves from this vote.
The City is the Landlord to several businesses that will benefit from this taking of mutual opportunity
from the C1. There are also council men who have a liquor licenses or work for a distributor.
How could this vote be credible or fair?
I am asking that we have some necessary discussion on the issue and that we look at the evidence and
legislate how to hold licensees to the standards you are seeking.
I hope you will consider these points and have further discussion and research on this proposal.
Respectfully,
Jenny Orr