Many questions on booze on the beach

Dear Editor:

I would like to make my feelings and thoughts on the subject of booze on the beach be known.

Coun. Campbell Watt’s original proposal was to help support local wineries and breweries by opening up one site on one day per week for consumption of (hopefully) of locally-made beer and wine products. Somehow this has morphed into six sites, seven days a week.

Enforcement will be a nightmare. I feel that bylaw will need more resources in order to manage this.

The scope of the trial needs to be sized down to, at most, three sites.

The SS Sicamous is not an appropriate site and should be removed from this experiment.

Is there going to be someone to clean up all the glass? This could be a bylaw banning all glass from public parks and beaches (including non-alcoholic beverages.)

While noon- 8 p.m. is daylight hours, it is also the hours that families with children are using these areas.

I would suggest that the hours be minimized to start at 2 or 3 p.m. and go until 8 p.m. I also would like to see it be three or four days only. This would allow families to know that there is not drinking on the beach for the other days of the week.

The other concern I have for bylaw is, “Who will enforce the drinking to stop at 8 p.m.?” I highly doubt that people will pack up and go, especially as they would have been drinking.

Is there some mechanism built into this experiment to bring it to a halt should it be causing problems for the citizens and city bylaw and/or law enforcement?

I know people are saying this is done in Europe and other places. Theirs is a different culture. When the dog is suddenly let off the leash he is going to tear off and create havoc.

We have to get this right so that it accomplishes the goal without creating chaos. Council, please consider all unintended consequences.

Remind our citizens that this is a privilege that will be lost if it is not handled responsibly.

Lynn Kelsey Penticton