Council delays vote on Bucs, liquor

The city wants more information on possible effects of liquor sales in the football stadium.

By JANET ZINK
Published August 3, 2007

TAMPA - The City Council on Thursday postponed for 30 days a wet zoning request that would allow liquor sales throughout Raymond James Stadium during Tampa Bay Buccaneers games and concerts.

Council members tentatively approved the request two weeks ago by a unanimous vote, but decided to hold off on a final vote until they could get more information on the impact the sales might have on drunken driving, fights and other problems.

"We've all had time to think about this," said council member Mary Mulhern. "This is a big issue of public health, safety and welfare."

Currently, hard liquor can be sold only in the club seating area, luxury suites, restaurants and a few other locations that seat about 15,000 people. Raymond James holds nearly 66,000 people. Beer and wine are sold throughout the stadium.

John Marshall, an attorney for stadium concessionaire Levy Premium Foodservice, which splits revenue from drink sales with the Bucs, said the goal is to offer fans more drink options.

"Security is a critical, critical concern," he said, but added that the facility is well-protected with police and stadium security.

Adding drinks such as rum and coke or daiquiris to the menu would not increase problems, he said.

Council members said they were torn.

"I understand the way the Bucs have been playing that people want to drink," said Council member John Dingfelder.

He voted in favor of postponing a decision, but wondered if it wasn't elitist to allow mixed-drink sales in expensive parts of the stadium but not the stands.

The council's decision to delay the vote until Aug. 30 pleased Karen Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Tampa Alcohol Coalition. She told the board she was concerned about the impact of making liquor available to that many people.

"We do not feel it would be a benefit to anyone other than the extra revenue to Raymond James and the Bucs," she said after the council meeting. "We do support more time to research it."

In other business, the council asked the city staff to provide updates every 90 days on collections of code violation fines.

The request came after the council received a report showing the city has accumulated $66-million in unpaid fines over the past 10 years.

City Attorney David Smith said the figure is based on faulty data from an inefficient computer system and is probably much smaller.

"We need to solve the information problem," he said. Smith also said most of the fines are not collectible.

Council member Joseph Caetano said the city should budget money for a computer upgrade and get aggressive about collecting fines. Otherwise, Caetano said, violators won't take citations seriously.

"People know nothing's going to happen to them," he said.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.

[Last modified August 3, 2007, 02:14:21]