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City council declines to act on Coppertop’s Saint Patrick’s Day hours request
Summary
A Coppertop representative requested a temporary expansion of downtown entertainment hours and a street closure for March 17; council members raised concerns about precedent, public-safety costs and cleanup responsibility and no motion was made to approve the request.
A Coppertop representative asked the Tuscaloosa City Council to temporarily expand the downtown entertainment-district hours from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, and to permit closing a portion of 23rd Avenue at 4th Street for live music and food vendors.
The request was presented by a Coppertop representative (Speaker 5), who said Coppertop planned a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration with "live music ... and crawfish," and sought the street closure by permit. The representative described the requested hours and the planned activities but did not give a named point of contact.
Council members and staff pressed for guidance and raised objections. Speaker 6 said the establishment estimated "they would have 60 at any given time," adding that outside events can unpredictably grow: "you can have 1 person, you could have 300 people." Speaker 7 questioned whether approving one bar would open the door to similar requests from other nearby bars and asked, "Is that on us? Is that on them?" about public-safety and cleanup costs. Staff noted a recent full-closure request for 4th and 23rd had been denied.
Council members debated whether such events should be permitted when they are privately hosted versus city-sponsored, and who should bear the cost of public safety and cleanup if streets are closed. No council member moved to approve the request; as Speaker 1 observed, the item "dies for lack of motion." The council took no formal action on the Coppertop request.
The council did not record a roll-call tally for this item, and staff said prior similar permits had been both approved and denied depending on location and scope. The matter may return to the council with clearer guidance about whether the city will allow individual establishments temporary street closures and which costs the city will cover.
