Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The Buffalo Common Council approved a special use permit to Bottoms Up on Chippewa to hold co-mingling college Thursday night events, but it can only be open until 11pm, with the operator saying under those terms, it's not worth it.
"It's an event we've been doing for 15 years with no issues at all. We open at 10 o'clock. We close at 4 a.m. There's never been a fight. There's never been a shooting," says Tim Walton of Bottoms Up. "They basically said they wanted us to apply a different way, which we had done, just to be make sure everything was done legally and the right way, and we applied for that, and they voted on it, and decided to say they were going to approve it with the condition that we close by 11 o'clock. So essentially, we open at 10 o'clock, and we have to be done by 11 o'clock. So it looks like it's approved. It looks like it's good, but it essentially just shuts down an event that has been happening for 15 years with no issues."
Walton notes being only open for one hour isn't profitable. "You won't even be able to get people in by in that time. It's essentially a dead deal. I mean, there's there's no way to be able to do a commingling event that that starts at 10 and closes at 11," says Walton. "Kids come out even though you're open at 10, they don't come out until 11 o'clock. And it's college kids, but they're essentially adults, these are people that are 18 and up. You get people coming out with military IDs. They're fighting the army, and now you're telling these kids, hey, you thanks for fighting, but you can't come out to our college night anymore."
He believes Bottoms Up is being singled out. "Why are you targeting the patrons of the bars, who you've said it's not, and why are you hurting the businesses? I mean, the whole thing with the way the streets closed off-it's hurting every business. It's just an overall attack on the law-abiding citizens and ignoring again the people who have not been following the laws," says Walton. "The biggest thing that they've been doing is, cracking down on open container and stuff like that, and those are the laws that are on the books. They hit it hard for a couple weeks. It's kind of died back down, but you know that's what they need to do is just keep enforcing the laws on the books. If you're breaking the law, if you're loitering, these are the people that need to be held accountable. If you walk into a bar and you get in a fight, you know you're spending the night in jail. In New York, you get in a fight, you're told move along,.": He says it's all about accountability. "It goes way deeper than the bars. It goes way deeper than Buffalo. I think this goes all the way up to the top, where they need to start holding the people accountable in New York, and then that will change with a lot of businesses. And a lot of businesses are suffering. And this is just one example of businesses that are going to lose money and suffer because of the lack of accountability."
Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski says this will be reviewed in 120 days.
Thursday event can only go until 11: "It's a dead deal" says Walton
Thursday event can only go until 11: "It's a dead deal" says Walton
