It was Christmas Eve… In the drunk-tank

On xmas eve at around 3:30 in the morning there was a big brawl at a Halifax bar, The Liqour Dome, that ended with 42 police officers arresting 38 drunk and disorderly patrons.  No word on how it all started.  City and Provincial officials are scrambling.  This is all coming right on the heels of The Mayor’s Roundtables on Violence, where binge drinking and the problems of bar concentration in the downtown core were at the forefront.  The Dome’s liquor license has been suspended, and meetings are scheduled.

The Liquor Dome is not a single bar, rather a collection of smaller bars all interlinked together.  There is usually a mix of bands (in The Attic) and DJ’s.  It is largely a skin bar.  That is, the women who go there are usually scantily clad and looking for attention, and the men who go there are all hopped up on testosterone and looking to seize any and all opportunities to get laid.  There are no stories coming out about how the brawl started, but I’d be willing to bet that it involved the possibility of drunk sex being interrupted on a lonely xmas eve… 

Some are blaming the dollar drinks, but patrons protest saying that if bar drinks were more expensive, they’d just drink more at home.  I would have to agree.

Some are blaming the bouncers, saying that they, in fact, exaccerbated the situation with their high-levels of testosterone and low-levels of conflict resolution training.  Having gone to The Attic part of the dome, I could totally see how this was true.  The bouncers that I have come in contact with at the Liquor Dome are largely certified jerks.  

Others are saying that the size of the Dome is the problem.  It’s too big, with a high concentration of the aforementioned patrons.  And the crowds are generally younger, and racially diverse.  Race was mentioned as a contributing factor, but largely in regards to the police response, where it was said that African Nova Scotian women were targeted once the paddywagons rolled in.

The police have come under attack in all this as well.  Unsurprising, since there is a general distrust of law enforcement in this city… especially among the student populations.  Now, the police actually did come under attack in this incident, with one being injured.  It is a scary state of anarchy when youth are hitting cops over the head with beer bottles outside of a skin bar at 3:30 in the morning on Xmas Eve…

So… what to do, what to do?

Apparently, suspend the license on the bar immediately, which is the action that the Alcohol and Gaming Authority took almost immediately.  Though, a temporary solution, it should be considered that all the traffic that the Dome attracts, will now be diffused into other bars in Halifax where other dynamics are also occuring.  The bars to watch from the Dome closing are Bubbles Mansion and the Palace… two of the other leading skin bars in the city.

In any case, going Downtown to drink and dance and party just got a little more dangerous.  Not only because of a displacement of Dome refugees… but also because authorities are going to be a little more sensitive, a little more demanding of order on groups of people who ultimately are so drunk they have no control over their actions.  

As noted by Frank Palermo of HRM by design during the roundtables, there is a huge problem with all the nightlife fun being concentrated in a single area like downtown.  People need to have options of nightlife fun in their home communities and then they won’t be coming from all over the city to a single hotbed of sex and booze.  There are a wealth of areas that might sustain hip clubs and dance spots all over HRM… The Quinpool Road area, Gottingen Street, Clayton Park, Bedford, Cole Harbour, and Dartmouth… why oh why are there no hip clubs in Dartmouth… Because people are migrating into the downtown core to drink and party… 

I do find it interesting though, that you never hear about these problems happening at places like The Economy Shoe Shop, or Tribecca… which attract a substantially different clientelle.  Which leads me to believe that perhaps it’s not the size of the establishment or the cheap drinks or the bouncers that are the problem, perhaps the problem is with the patrons that frequent them.

Or perhaps the problem is too much booze (a substance that leads to uninhibited external displays of confidence) and not enough pot (a substance that leads to contemplative internal reflection… or at the very least causes head spins and calling it a night).