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Having a cold beer outdoors won’t be confined to patios this summer now that the city has given drinking in some public parks the green light for a second year.
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A pilot that allowed consuming alcohol at some public picnic sites will resume in 2022 after a vote from Edmonton council last week. Reversing course from its January vote, council opted to expand the pilot beyond the 47 picnic sites in seven river valley parks selected last year. Locations and dates for this year’s program haven’t been announced.
Council also commissioned a study on the program’s impacts to run simultaneously.
Enforcement during the pilot was also on councilors’ minds last Thursday. Staff said proactive enforcement wouldn’t continue this year and rangers would only respond to complaints. Stating her support for the continued pilot, Coun. Anne Stevenson said existing laws banning public drinking may be enforced inconsistently.
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“I’m also not a big drinker, but I have been in groups of people, typically white middle-class families — we’ve never been challenged by a bylaw officer, even though alcohol may have been present, whereas I think a group of BIPOC youth in the same park may be challenged,” she said.
“Having a rule that can easily be inequitably applied is a hazard to our community and to equity.”
Coun. Aaron Paquette also expressed this sentiment. As with fears over “reefer madness” before cannabis was legalized, concerns about disorder from public drinking in parks haven’t materialized, he said. Edmontonians are essentially breaking drinking bylaws every day and it doesn’t make sense, said Paquette.
“Let’s not kid ourselves: drinking in parks is happening,” Paquette said. “I’m not a huge booster for drinking in parks. I frankly don’t care one way or the other. But as far as policy and good governance goes, (the pilot) fits the bill. This is, at the end of the day, an equity issue.”
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‘We can’t ignore them’
But council’s support for expanding the pilot wasn’t unanimous.
At a council committee in January, public health experts urged council not to bring back the pilot, saying it could increase liquor use and harm individuals’ health.
While Coun. Jo-Anne Wright said last Thursday she doesn’t agree with some of the expert’s conclusions — who made arguments she compared to “prohibition” — Wright didn’t feel right going ahead.
“The personal stories that were relayed to us by the community members — I don’t think we can ignore them,” she said.
More than 14,000 people responded to the city’s online survey seeking feedback on the 2021 pilot and more than half reported a positive experience, a recent staff report shows. Some park users also gave input onsite during the pilot by scanning QR codes.
Acknowledging these results, Wright wondered if the voices of people who don’t have the technology to participate have been heard.
“I don’t think there was enough taken into account for others who don’t access, or who are maybe afraid to access the parks because of the drinking that goes on, whether it be legally or illegally,” she said.
“To me, a pilot is a pilot, and we’ve done that. So now let’s try something different and get some more comprehensive information before we move forward in enacting a full bylaw to keep drinking in parks full-time.”