{"id":62211,"date":"2021-07-26T14:53:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T20:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=62211"},"modified":"2021-07-26T14:55:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T20:55:57","slug":"alcohol-consumption-project-hits-1300-bookings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2021\/07\/26\/alcohol-consumption-project-hits-1300-bookings\/","title":{"rendered":"Alcohol consumption project hits 1,300 bookings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Alcohol consumption project’s users:<\/strong> Janice Pedle (right) and Jessi Collins (left) enjoy the hot summer at Bridgeland Riverside – a designated alcohol consumption park in Calgary, Alta on Friday, July 8, 2021. So far, the project has been running well and is successful.(Photo by Ngoc Man Loi\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I<\/span>t\u2019s been a month since the City of Calgary allowed people to drink alcohol in its parks. So far, the project appears to be running well.
\nT<\/span>he program launched on June 1 \u00a0<\/sup>in order to let people connect socially outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very successful so far,\u201d said Laura Smith, a team leader with Calgary Parks.<\/p>\n

As part of the project, picnic tables in designated parks<\/a> around the city may be reserved for a maximum of two hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Alcohol may be consumed at these sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I think the project has been running good,\u201d said Thao Huynh, an accountant who made use of the pilot project once. \u201cIt\u2019s actually a fun project when we can freely have alcohol in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drinking was originally allowed at only 30 selected picnic tables. It\u2019s now up to 56. The tables are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and they can be booked online as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to book the table online,\u201d said Huynh.<\/p>\n

People just need to go to the website, choose the area, date, start time, and end time. The site then shows a list of available parks, which a user can reserve.<\/p>\n

Huynh recently booked a table but she notes that most places tend to be fully booked on weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the project is becoming more popular now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Calgarians seem to really enjoy the project. Smith says it\u2019s had about 1300 bookings so far.<\/p>\n

Smith says that this is not a program for partying in parks or for promoting alcohol consumption. A glass of wine or beer is not excessive consumption.<\/p>\n

She recognizes that people have many legitimate concerns about the project. The City\u2019s intent with the pilot project is to see whether the concerns will materialize, or it is a little bit of worry for nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, we\u2019ve seen that the concern so far has not arisen,\u201d said Smith. \u201cCalgarians are fairly pretty responsible with the program.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She said that the city had one complaint about litter at a picnic site on June 29. They have been carefully monitoring matters related to disruptive or drunk behavior in public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not seen that at all,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

As a project user, Huynh has the same experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I know, people are quite responsible when drinking in the public,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If there are any concerns with disruptive behavior or public intoxication, Smith says that people can call 311. A bylaw officer would come to investigate the issue and has the ability to issue a ticket.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the project has also assisted some restaurants in increasing their sale of alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore sales come in now,\u201d said Maia Pineault, general manager with Una Pizza in Bridgeland. \u201cWe are selling more booze.\u201d<\/p>\n

People order wine or beer with their pizza and go consume both at the nearby designated picnic sites.<\/p>\n

Una Pizza\u2019s Bridgeland location, which is located on 7A Street NE, opened in March. Pineault says that between the project and re-opening for dine-in, business is getting better.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Restaurant’s manager:<\/strong> Maia Pineault, general manager of Una Pizza, at the restaurant counter. Pineault says that with the project and since they can open for dine-in, their business is getting better. (Photo by Ngoc Man Loi\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTake-away sales have been pretty consistent the entire time, which is nice for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The alcohol consumption project will continue until Sept. 7, 2021.<\/p>\n

Calgary Parks will evaluate the project and report back to the city council in November with recommendations on what to do in the future.<\/p>\n

Huynh hopes the project will be back for next year \u201cas long as people know their limits, drink responsibly, and respect others at another table at the park.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a month since the City of Calgary allowed people to drink alcohol in its parks. So far, the project appears to be running well. The program launched on June 1 \u00a0in order to [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Alcohol Consumption","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-62211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-city","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62211"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62270,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62211\/revisions\/62270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}