The following article appeared in the June 28 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Late-night bars, restaurants may be asked to pony up as city looks for ways to recoup cleanup, policing costs
When Stephanie Schmalz walks to her clothing store on Saturday mornings, she often discovers the grubby results of downtown partying.
The owner of Vintage Edge Clothing said she sees wrappers, cups and food containers left along Macdonell Street by the crowds of people who got hungry after leaving the bars and clubs the night before.
“Sometimes you’ll see puke or whatever on a window,” Schmalz said. “It’s frustrating.”
The city is looking for ways to recoup the costs of managing and cleaning up after the late-night crowds — with a focus on passing those costs on to the late-night bars and restaurants.
Schmalz said it makes sense. “I think they should be responsible,” she said. “I don’t think a lot of the garbage that’s out there comes from my store or the salon next door.
“If they’re going to be open after hours to serve the bar crowd, there’s going to be mess and problems. . . . They need to be responsible for it.”
Council’s finance, administration and corporate services committee passed a resolution earlier this month directing staff to come back with options on how to recover the costs of policing, cleanup and garbage pickup in the core.
Councillor Ian Findlay, a member of the committee, said there are a disproportionate level of city services that get focused on the aftermath of the partying.
“There’s garbage and there’s policing costs,” he said. “We have a (police) tactical unit that’s based downtown. That’s not to assist little old ladies.
“We’re looking for responsibility. . . . We want to send a message to the trouble makers that the status quo is not acceptable,” he said.
Findlay said the committee wants staff to assess what the downtown costs are to the city, who is responsible for those costs, and potential mechanisms — perhaps fees or bylaws — to recover them.
City staff have also been directed to consult with the Downtown Board of Management, and Findlay said the proposals are expected to be part of the 2008 budget discussions.
The Downtown Board of Management declined to comment. Several bar owners couldn’t be reached.
Mayor Karen Farbridge said the downtown cleanup and policing challenges have been issues over several elections. She said the city needs to examine what can be done and whether the bars and restaurants can be part of the solution.
“The nature of these particular businesses add an extra level of service that the general taxpayer is having to fund,” Farbridge said. “It’s a service above and beyond what we’re currently providing in the city as a whole to address ongoing business activities.”
Sam Mattina, Guelph’s manager of roads and rights of way, said the city spends roughly $26,000 per month on general maintenance in the core. He couldn’t say how much of that is dedicated to the late-night crowd, but said it is significant.
“Most of the mess is caused at night,” Mattina said. “Most people don’t throw stuff on the ground during the day.”
Guelph Police Inspector Maurice Obergan, who is in charge of neighbourhood support services, said the force regularly has overtime costs on weekends during the school year, when the downtown is more busy at night.
Dave Dietz, the owner of Pita Pit on Macdonell, which sells food late at night, said he would keep an open mind to whatever the city proposes. But unless certain problems can be directly linked to specific businesses, he said, it’s difficult to see how any policy to recoup the costs from bar and restaurant owners could be fair.
“I’m not sure it can,” he said. “I can’t see how it’s justified when we’re a business just like anyone else except that we’re open late at night.
“In principle it sounds to me like (the city) wants to be feeding their coffers as much as possible. . . . It’s like anything else with taxes — where does it end?”