news-record.com

Greensboro has a situation that many other cities would die for: It has a booming nightlife downtown. Instead of rolling up the carpets after 5, as many downtowns do, the city has rolled them out. And it's not just the weekends that see the crowds; they're also there some weeknights.

But now some downtown proprietors are worried that the scene could go bad: Specifically, there's concern that at 2 or 3 a.m., when the bars close, drunken clubbers could create situations that harm them - and the image of the downtown.

These concerns are valid. Nobody wants the city to be the location for a 100-person fight. But the way some in the city want to address this issue seems misguided: Instead of thinking about posting more officers downtown to keep things in check and to prevent loitering, the focus has been on opposing any increase in sidewalk dining.

Some club owners want to be allowed to serve on public sidewalks during all their opening hours. Now the city limits dining on public sidewalks to 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and from 11 a.m.-midnight on Friday, Saturday and holidays.

Opponents think extending dining hours might be the spark that incites a downtown riot. They say that clubs' nighttime closings can put several hundred people, many drunk, on the sidewalks simultaneously. The police have all they can do to keep these people moving to their cars now, without having sidewalk furniture as impediments. They also say extending sidewalk cafes' hours would mean more people for the police to patrol.

We can understand not adding kindling to a possibly explosive situation. But diners aren't that kindling.

The most logical way to ensure order downtown would be to put more police on patrol there. Of course, that raises an important question: How would the strapped-for-cash city pay for them?

Why not get funds from clubbers? Many of downtown's nighttime visitors are parking for free in the decks - decks that drivers in the day have to pay to use. If nighttime visitors paid to park, that could raise enough money to pay for more officers.

Also, the issue of extended sidewalk hours doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Why not a compromise between the two sides? The city could increase hours for dining but still require clubs to close sidewalk cafes an hour before last call.

Or, the city might even consider allowing bars to stay open until 6 a.m. Most clubbers would leave long before then and their departure would be gradual instead of all at once as happens now. That should help police with crowd control. There are many ways to keep the peace downtown besides targeting sidewalk dining.