Streetalk January 08 2004

Secietto: I was in traffic. Nobody wanted to go home. If violence is going to happen, it’s going to happen regardless, if you close early or not. There were more people out on the streets. When it closes later, they go home, there’s nothing else to do, but they’re tired. When you stop serving alcohol at 2:30, and people don’t even get to the club until 1, it’s like there’s nothing else to do. They’re going to act stupid because they’re bored.

Jeff: I don’t see the big deal about closing early. At that hour I was at a house party. Earlier you close, the less time you give people to get drunk. It’s safer to have people in earlier. If drinking is that important to you, throw a house party. At that hour, most people are just out to get drunk and you give them that extra hour, shit will happen. If I lived in Buckhead I would be perturbed to have all this crap going on in my neighborhood.

Debbie: People like me, in the bar industry, will not be able to get off work and go casually have a drink after work somewhere else. After a long hard night on my feet waiting on other people, I would like somebody to wait on me. People were just getting drunker quicker and doing their shootings earlier. If they want to start trouble, they’ll just start trouble an hour earlier. It’s really fucked up they chose to enforce that law on New Year’s Eve. Bartenders lost at least $150 to $200.