The wine ban is only on fortified wine. The cheap stuff that has a distilled liquor added to it.

I was really hoping you were joking before I clicked the link.

If they think this is going to keep people from getting drunk they're out of their minds. The reason that these particular drinks are so popular is that they happen to be the cheapest and easiest way to get drunk. If they ban them they'll just move on to their next best option.

I am so sick of the city council throwing out half baked solutions to our myriad problems. I'll be sure to buy a bottle of good stuff when I park at one of the city parking meters on my way to city hall to turn in my 2 gallon sloop bucket.

Better watch it or the unicycle police will be down on them like rats on recycled food!

good lord-why don't they do something useful-go fix the roads for starters-but wait! here in Lake Oswego pot holes can be considered wetlands- no joke. It's in our new LOC Chapter 50 (Community Development Code) Read it and weep.

So, the wrong people are drinking the wrong alcohol in the wrong parts of town; so in those parts of town (but not others) those people (and others) will not be able to buy that alcohol (but can buy others).

Desperate times may call for desperate measures. But something seems head-shakingly pathetic about this.

This plan will work about as well to prevent public intoxication as locking up the spray paint stopped the grafitti.
Idiots!

Le Crema is OK, it's that demon Los du Bois 'Russian River' that's whot's causin' unrest.

That, and the other 8 ounces in a quart.

Must be a tie-in with the new Ken Burns series...

So this should stop all the stupid ideas coming out of downtown ???

Folks will just have to drink spray paint. Oh, wait . . . . .

I am so sick of the city council throwing out half baked solutions to our myriad problems.

I suspect that they aren't half-baked, but thoroughly toasted.

This city's continual find-a-problem caused by a few, then slap it to all has got to stop.

Here you have a small segment causing the problem and they do nothing about it with obvious solutions that are already on the books. It doesn't take more policemen, just let them enforce our present laws. It doesn't take more non-profit agencies using over $187 Million of local taxpayer dollars plus the untold state and federal dollars. It doesn't take more Fish Free Drug/Alcohol Housing with no boundaries. It takes a commitment from our public officials to stop tying our collective hands.

I for one commend the city for taking this action. I bet if there were only laws banning the sale of heroin and meth, that problem would go away, too.

I think heroin and crack are a bit more of a problem then fortified wine in those parts of Portland.

The wine ban is only on fortified wine. The cheap stuff that has a distilled liquor added to it.

According to the linked story, you're wrong.

Here's the language regarding wine from the city's petition. There's a link to the document in the KATU story.

2. With regard to Wine and Cider, licensee;

a. Will not sell fortified wine or cider over 14 % ABV, except port, sherry, madeira, marsala and vermouth.
b. Will not sell wine packaged in a removable bladder or flexible soft package.
c. Will not sell wine in quantities greater than 2 liters per package.

I read the document provided at Jack's first link. Although the AIA zone boundaries are very badly written, you can eventually sort through them, and once you do, it's very obvious that they're avoiding the Whole Foods store at NW 14th and Couch, the Safeway at NW 14th and Lovejoy, and the Zupans at NW 23rd and W Burnside. The Whole Foods store is particularly gerrymandered out of this zone:

The AIA is the area bounded by:
- HWY 26 and HWY 405 on the South, the Willamette River on the East;
- South of NW Lovejoy Street from the Willamette River to NW 9th Ave;
- West of 9th Ave until W Burnside St;
- South of West Burnside to I-405 freeway;
- East of I-405 and South of NW Everett St. until NW 22nd Ave on the North side of Burnside and West of SW Vista Rd on the South side of W Burnside St.

Perhaps this is to avoid a legal fight with deep-pocketed national grocers? If so, I think the small grocers and carry-outs would have a legitimate complaint about the new regulations.

Although it does catch the Fred Meyer store at NW 20th and W Burnside.

I hope our local brewers can be innovative and meet the new container requirements. An inner can sleeve and dual poptops may qualify as two 11 Oz servings. Couples could share a beer and Portland would reign as the City of Wierd.

I don't understand why everyone is so opposed to this. It seems to me a very small first step to get a handle on the huge vagrancy and public drinking problem in downtown and NW. I walk around both areas frequently and see malt liquor cans and bottles on the ground all the time. I also bums sitting in parks and on the street openly drinking this stuff. Quite often they appear passed out, sometimes right in the middle of the sidewalk (even on busy W. Burnside). I know this ban won't solve Portland's bum problem, but it might help. I don't see how it can hurt.

I'm just waiting for the first Pearlie to start yelling "get off my lawn".

I don't know if it even matters. Once you get past Powells/WholeFoods, there's less foot traffic than on 23rd or Hawthorne. The Pealr may be losing luster.

Kathe W: So in Lake O, potholes are the new wetlands? Wow! It can only be a matter of time, then, before the City of Portland redefines the vehicles illegally stored on my block, that they won't ticket or tow, as "permanent art installations on the public right-of-way." The same definition could be used for panhandlers/drunks/street-kids on the sidewalks downtown. And those drunks/drug-addicts in the park? Why, "art in the parks" of course. So easy to do, and voila!, a myriad of problems solved. I'm only surprised the legions of CoP PR types haven't done it already.

I think it's great! Particularly if it includes the Jelled-When? stadium, which it should if it includes Northwest and Goose Hollow.

That ought to piss off quite a few people. Maybe even as many as the leaf-tax.