Tonight on 3rd Floor Theatre: The Day of Reckoning Edition

The Day of Reckoning has arrived! Two weeks ago, our Metro Council heard from a number of VERY upset residents of the Alsen community concerning their abysmal fire protection rating and the ineffectiveness of the Alsen-St. Irma Lee Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) Board. The Alsen residents were notably upset that their metro council representative, Councilman “Bones” Addison, was not present during that meeting. Several residents opined that Councilman Addison is partially responsible for their plight due to an unorthodox appointment process for the Alsen-St. Irma Lee VFD Board and apparently declining to meet with them to hear their concerns. As a result of that meeting, the Metro Council requested the presence of the Alsen-St, Irma Lee VFD Board at tonight’s meeting. Thus, we have a showdown.

A few things I’m watching for tonight:
1) Whether the Alsen-St. Irma Lee VFD Board Will Show: The Metro Council did not seem sure whether they could compel the Board to appear, so they have requested their presence. Personally, I would be surprised if they didn’t show (or at least didn’t send a token representative) considering how public this issue has become.

2) Whether Councilman Addison Will Show: Councilman Addison missed the last Metro Council meeting at which his constituents showed up in force to tear into him. I don’t keep his calendar, so I don’t know if he had a reasonable excuse for not being there, but I would think that a councilperson would make an effort to appear at a council meeting if there was an issue affecting their constituents. We’ll see tonight whether he shows or not. I’d suggest that missing the meeting tonight would be a little too convenient.

3) Whether the Council Has Researched Its Options: For a regular Board watcher, the frequency with which the Council seeks the opinion of the Parish Attorney to determine what they can or can’t do seems somewhat high. It isn’t terrible by any stretch, but considering how much friction and outrage this issue caused at the last council meeting, I would think that at least some of the Council members have done research into what they can or can’t do to correct the current situation.

4) Whether the Council Will Defer to the District: This requires that #2 above is a Yes. Whenever issues come up that are wholly contained within a Council District, the Council often defers to the Council Representative in question. Obviously, this is something of a quid pro quo deal as councilpersons would probably be none too pleased if another councilperson bulled their way into the geographical sphere of influence. HOPEFULLY the Council realizes that that very action is sometimes necessary.

Depending on the answers to the above, the discussion tonight could work our wonderfully or could devolve into a grand melee pitting the Alsen community against their VFD Board. The former would be preferable; the latter would be way more fun.

While there is bound to be plenty of drama from the Alsen-St. Irma Lee VFD Board inquisition, the most drama laden item on the agenda is, at this point, merely an Introduction. Councilwoman Alison Gary (in the finest example of lame duck statesmanship I have ever seen) is proposing to eliminate all Sunday alcohol sales restrictions (Blue Laws, as they’re colloquially known) from the Code of Ordinances. As Councilwoman Gary explained it to me, the effect would be that Sunday would be treated just like any other day with respect to alcohol sales (generally whenever) and the operating hours of bars (open until 2AM). In my personal opinion, this is long overdue. There really isn’t any kind of rational argument you can make in favor of Sunday alcohol sales and bar restrictions without referencing church, religion, or holy days. Those aren’t really acceptable reasons for a government to restrict the activities of citizens or private business.

Next week, I’m going to tackle the meat and potatoes of Councilwoman Gary’s proposal to eliminate any and all Sunday alcohol sale restrictions from the books. If the motion gets a second at the next Council meeting on October 10th, you should expect fireworks… beautiful, beautiful fireworks!