I haven’t drank alcohol in 19 years and I don’t socialize much, so I often forget how prevalent drinking is for many people. When I hear stories about shootings at parties, out of control revelers trashing neighborhoods, fights happening outside of bars in the wee hours of the morning, fatal car crashes on weekends or even people complaining about out of character texts they received (or worse, sent) late at night I never wonder about the cause.
It’s clear as day.
It’s the alcohol – almost every time.
I loved getting drunk so I’m not judging anyone for drinking. I did it a lot in my mid 20s to mid 30s. It made me feel like I was on vacation every night. It helped me relax and enjoy myself. I enjoyed many years of cocktails and bottles of wine when my wife and I went out for dinner.
For normal people, alcohol can add a lot of fun to occasions.
Recently I was listening to a podcast where the host was talking about relationship anxiety and insecurity issues. Then she said something that almost made me laugh. She said, “It always gets worse when I’ve been drinking. Maybe I need to see a therapist for my anxiety.”
Ha. Nope.
Quit drinking. That will help.
What got me thinking about this was a recent article in the local news that the city of Raleigh is considering raising the fines for parking violations in downtown Raleigh.
Residents are complaining that visitors are parking in resident-only zoned spaces. Others are peeing in corners or puking on residents’ lawns. Some complain that people visiting downtown park their cars in a residential area and leave them there for days. Some people park unloading zones, no parking zones and too close to hydrants. Residents report loud partiers making lots of noise and stumbling to their cars after the bars close.
The city is considering raising parking fines to discourage this behavior.
Will it?
I don’t think so.
It’s not about the parking fines. It’s about the alcohol.
When people are drunk, they do stupid things.
Believe it or not – I actually have an idea for a solution. The city wants people to visit and patronize the downtown establishments. They want the tax revenues that come with a thriving entertainment district.
This is the carrot. If the cars are causing the most grief, then make it a no-brainer for anyone coming to town who plans to drink. Setup off campus park-and-ride lots with 24/7 security where people can park their cars for short terms or extended terms. Have free shuttles that very people from the lots to various place in town. Have cops at the lots to offer free and pleasant sobriety tests to people returning to the lot so they can opt for an uber instead of driving drunk.
Give Uber drives their own free spaces at the park-n-ride lots so anyone returning drunk has a line of cars ready for a lift.
Make the shuttle fun. Let people drink and eat on them. Have some kind of party host/concierge on each bus. Let people charter a shuttle for the night to ferry their entire entourage around.
This is the stick. You could make parking exorbitantly expensive for visitors. But, as we know, the problem is really the alcohol. So setup DUI checkpoints every weekend at the major ingress and egress points. Publicize this. Make it inconvenient, let people sit in longgg lines waiting to be tested and be brutal in enforcing DUI penalties.
After a few dozen, regular, normal people spend the night in the drunk tank and see their names plastered on the news, everyone else will opt for the shuttle and the Uber.
I’m no genius (actually I am – but not regarding traffic planning or community relations – haha!), but this seems like it could work.
So, even though nobody asked for my opinion, here is my solution for the City Of Raleigh, no strings attached. You’re welcome.