Businessman wants 3 a.m. closing for clubs

To keep teens from hanging out downtown

Publication title: Edmonton Journal
Pages: B1 Front
Publication date: Jan 27, 2004
Author: Purdy, Chris

'These kids have no positive impact' - Jim Taylor, director of Edmonton's Downtown Business Association

EDMONTON - Jim Taylor doesn't hate teenagers. He just doesn't want them hanging out downtown until dawn.

The director of Edmonton's Downtown Business Association said Tuesday that most of the 1,000 youths who attend all-night dance clubs downtown each weekend loiter in parking lots, use drugs and commit crimes.

He wants the city to change its bylaw so the clubs close at 3 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., a move that would likely shut down the clubs.

Taylor said the clubs are a blight on the city's core and hinder its revitalization. The youths don't spend money outside the clubs, they simply create havoc, he said. "I don't want them downtown," Taylor said. "It's purely from a business sense. These kids have no positive business impact on downtown. In fact, they have a negative impact."

Taylor told The Journal's editorial board he opposes any late- night venture that would attract young people downtown.

Instead of all-night clubs, Taylor said he would prefer to see sophisticated, middle-class bars and restaurants open up downtown. He said he's not a snob, just a realistic businessman.

Mayoral candidate Robert Noce said he also envisions a downtown that is alive after 6 p.m., but with a mix of both young partiers and adults.

"Anyone and everyone should be welcome downtown," Noce said.

"The last time I looked, the young people of our city are also citizens of our city and they deserve an opportunity to be part of our downtown core."

Last week, Mayor Bill Smith proposed closing the city's two after- hours clubs at 3 a.m. because of complaints. He has asked city managers to look at the issue.

Under the city's bylaw, passed in 2001, no one under 16 is allowed in all-night dance clubs. The clubs are not allowed to serve alcohol but can play music until 8 a.m.

Const. Andrew Hoglund, a city police officer with the downtown beat office, said the clubs are causing "huge problems" -- everything from littering and public urination to graffiti, vandalism, break-ins and drugs.

"From what we see and hear, most of the people are on drugs," Hoglund said.

Marwan Mahfouz, manager of the Tim Hortons on Jasper Avenue, which is open 24 hours, said youths sometimes come into the coffee shop when they leave the clubs. They scare away other customers, break windows and paint graffiti in the bathrooms.

"If you can get rid of these raves and bring in some nicer clubs downtown, I think we'd have a better crowd," he said.

Security has doubled at Commerce Place due to dance clubs, said Greg Smith, the building's manager of security.

He said guards now wear slash-proof vests and gloves because of attacks by youths carrying weapons. Many of them have broken into vehicles in the parkade.

Paul Stephens, general manager of the Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe hotel, said his concerns about graffiti and vandalism have lessened the past two years.

But he agreed with Taylor that the best thing for the downtown is to close the clubs early and keep youths from hanging out on the streets all night.