Culture shift: Boston considering opening some streets to open drinking

Good one!

Get your pot fix smoke free.

Same with nicotine.

There is some merit in this, but I think being careful in which zones are given the green light is important. I would say that letting every "pre-gamer" going to a Sox game walk around with a PBR pounder is not a good idea.

This is how civilized countries do it. There are vending machines with beer in Japan. As long as you aren’t messy there go nuts, no one cares.

It's becoming more common.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2023/11/126249-revitalize-downtowns-citi...

In some cases, states such as North Carolina and Ohio are relaxing regulations to let cities create these zones, explains Kevin Hardy in Stateline. “They aim to revitalize downtown cores hollowed out by the changing nature of retail and the post-pandemic loss of office workers.”

“Aside from bringing foot traffic to shops and restaurants, officials say the success of the new districts reveals the need to update antiquated liquor laws that long banned public consumption in most places to try to reduce public intoxication and drunken driving.”

Hardy describes efforts in several cities and states, noting that, in most cases, the districts face little local opposition. Meanwhile, business owners report seeing increased activity.

This has quietly been a non-deal for a very long time, with the exception of a few cities.

We can tell you don’t have a passport.

I think the ban on outdoor drinking might be a city ordinance, (albeit one widely replicated across the state) not state law. I don't see a state law searching online (and there's a map in a different thread asserting as much) for it although that's not a reliable proof of anything. The limit on liquor licenses on the other hand was result of the state legislature very specifically going out of its way to restrict the city of Boston.

Most western states permit walking around with a drink ... as in enjoying a beer on a hike or at the beach, when camping in state parks or even walking around a town.

They leave it to municipalities to set more restrictive laws. And since their entire area isn't covered in cities and towns, most places are cool with it.

States shown in blue, here, have no statewide ban (somehow Massachusetts appears to be mischaracterized? - or does just every city and town have a ban?):

Last time I was in Atlanta, there were licensed vendors selling beer and wine from carts in Piedmont Park.

I drink in parks often and have never been hassled. Just don’t cause a scene.

I have a koozie that looks from the outside like a regular water bottle. Inside, it conceals a bottle of beer. I used to bring it to the kids' baseball games, it would work just as well for walking a dog.

MetroNorth between New Haven, CT and Grand Central Station had dedicated bar cars until they were phased out in 2014 by new trains. There was a plan to bring back the bar cars in 2022, but the MTA never acted on it.

I suppose if the MBTA/Keolis operated bar cars, it would likely be on the long-distance lines like the Providence/Wickford Junction, Worcester, Fitchburg/Wachusett, and Newburyport/Gloucester/Rockport lines.

Part of the fun of riding the Cape Flyer is getting to the cape with a beer in your hand.

I say lower the drinking age.

Then raise the age to get a driver’s license. For good measure, make all the open drinking streets pedestrian only and T accessible. Near emergency rooms too. Add to T station staffing and work with cabbies and ride share drivers to get compensation for drunken messes in their vehicles. At the same time be rigorous about keeping predators out of rideshare driver seats.
Tax Big Alcohol more. If it’s anything like Big Tobacco, they can afford it.
I don’t think drinking will get any more out of hand than it is. But it can become safer. With a good propaganda, it could become just as shameful to become a drunken public nuisance as it is in other cultures.
Lastly, help with reducing or managing alcohol addiction needs more public funds and more research.