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Monday, June 30, 2008

News Never Mind the Heat: No Water Bottles Allowed!

Posted by Matt Davis on Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 10:49 AM

A furious email this morning from Michael Goldman, who tried to take water into the Multnomah County Bike Fair at Colonel Sumner Park yesterday, but was DENIED.

Dear Multnomah County Health Department,

I would like to complain about an OLCC rule that put many attendants of today's Multnomah County Bike Fair (MCBF) in jeopardy. I attended the fair with my friend who naturally brought a large bottle of water to stave off the heat of today's very high temperatures, as did I. We were both told that we would not be able to bring in outside containers whether they contained water or not due to an OLCC rule against outside containers in a beer garden. Some poor MCBF volunteers had to go around telling people who responsibly brought their own water to empty their containers to comply with OLCC rules.

I hope the various health departments in this state overrule a very irresponsible rule that makes hydration at events with alcoholic beverages in hot weather onerous and dangerous.

As a young person who is aware of both the age of the OLCC and its commissioners, I believe it to be inevitable that such an anachronistic state power will be discontinued at least by the time my generation fills the voting records and capitol building. In the mean time, I would hope the greater and more reasonable concerns of the state and municipal health agencies keep the OLCC's idiocy to a minimum.

Sincerely,
Michael Goldman
Portland

"OLCC does not have a rule that specifically prohibits outside containers in a beer garden," says Linda Ignowski, Regulatory Services Director with the OLCC. "An applicant to a temporary sales event submits a control plan to us on how they will monitor and manage the area where alcohol is sold and consumed. They are responsible to ensure that minors to do not obtain alcohol and to avoid serving a patron who is showing signs of intoxication. Perhaps they did not want to take the change that someone was bringing in alcohol in water bottles or other containers, since
some alcohlic beverages looks like water such as vodka and gin. It is this very reason that other venues prohibit outside containers like U of O and OSU football games."

"I reviewed their plan today and did not see anything in their plan that stated they were going to prohibit water bottles," Ignowski continues. "However, I did read that they were going to serve water in paper cups and beer in water bottles and plastic cups. This may have been another reason why they prohibited outside containers."

Whatever. In Saturday's heat, they should have changed their policies.

 

Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.

Comments (8) RSS

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1
Nobody was denied water at MCBF. They just weren't allowed to bring their own containers into the "licensed area" where we had HEAPS of water and tree-killin' paper cups to put it in (boo hoo).

The only reason we didn't allow outside containers was that bicyclists are notoriously cheap and crafty and even when you're selling 21 oz. of Pyramid IPA for $2, they'll still try to sneak in Hamms in a Dr. Pepper bottle. Normally, I don't care what you're drinking your booze out of or where you got it, but when the PPB and the OLCC are up on your nuts, it's best to keep them happy so that we can get naked and crash our bicycles into each other in peace.
Posted by Carl on June 30, 2008 at 11:57 AM · Report
2
Notoriously cheap, eh? Frankness, Carl. Frankness is a virtue.
Posted by Matt Davis on June 30, 2008 at 12:16 PM · Report
3
So the OLCC is on yer ass about outside containers and making a ruckus, not that people weren't drinking the Pyramid. That goes to my point, the OLCC should not be compelling anyone to toss water on a really hot day. It's stupid -- not dangerous to me or anyone I know but old people and people with kids probably feel differently. -Michael
Posted by ragold on June 30, 2008 at 12:18 PM · Report
4
"Last year we had lots of complaints because we weren't allowed to have children in the performance area," says Megan Sinnott. "So this year we wanted to comply with OLCC regulations so that people could bring their children inside...and there was plenty of water inside."
Posted by Matt Davis on June 30, 2008 at 12:25 PM · Report
5
As one of the volunteers, I paraded myself around the park the entire day enjoying the FREE, COLD water provided by MCBF volunteers. Though I brought my MCBF water bottle from two years ago, I used the CHEAP bottle provided. I think Carl has done well to explain the situation. The OLCC didn't say NO OUTSIDE WATER BOTTLES! MCBF did. We wanted to ensure *no* alcohol was snuck past us. We provided a place for people to keep their outside containers if they wanted to save the contents, but asked EVERYONE--even people with "water bottles" to pour out their contents and retire their containers while in the "drinking" area. I even took the time to personally bring people replacement water (not my job). Wasting resources (plastic. water.) is sad, but having to police our friends is even sadder. This year's policy was an attempt at making lines very clear for OLCC *and* MCBF patrons so that MCBF could allow children in the action area and continue the fun next year. Thank you for your understanding.
Posted by meghan on June 30, 2008 at 12:48 PM · Report
6
Since when did bike culture become the man, Meghan?
Posted by Matt Davis on June 30, 2008 at 1:05 PM · Report
7
I understand the defensive tone b/c you all put on a really great event and made accomodations for people to get 4 oz. cups of water but I'm not criticizing the MCBF. Rather, I would love the health departments to step in and say to the OLCC, your rules are not as important as our rules; STFU.

Also, it wasn't purely about keeping outside alcohol out as I saw plenty of people offering up clear liquids to volunteers to sniff but being told it doesn't matter what's in the bottle -- water or not -- dump it out.
Posted by ragold on June 30, 2008 at 1:37 PM · Report
8
Next year we'll be taking cues from the Olympic folks down in Eugene.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/06/hot_topic_at_olympic_trials_do.html

We'll also be banning gels.
Posted by Carl on June 30, 2008 at 3:06 PM · Report

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