A long awaited overhaul of city codes regarding business selling alcohol finally comes to the city council today.
One controversial measure would give emergency power to suspend a permit to the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board. Council President Helena Moreno is opposed to that action saying it would deny a permit holder the right of due process.
According to the Times-Picayune.Advocate Moreno will ask for a hearing on that code. Council member Kristen Gisleson-Palmer will reportedly introduce a competing measure to letting city departments determine how a suspension is handled.
However, not everybody on the council is in favor of moving forward. Council member Jason Williams will reportedly as to table the matter for another four days as he will miss today's meeting. Williams is also looking to soften some of the new ordinances provisions.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell spearheaded the push to revise the codes. One particular code that received a lot of push back was requiring cameras at bars. Complaints from business owners on behalf of entertainers and bartenders killed the cameras and other codes they objected to. However, it granted the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board the power to issue an emergency permit suspension.
Major pushback is from the French Quarter Business League, which calls the code overhaul "classic examples of over-regulation in (Palmer's) attempt to regulate what she has characterized as 'nuisance bars'."
