A months-long debate over whether outdoor drinking and dining should be permitted downtown ended Monday night.
The Winston-Salem City Council unanimously approved changes to the city's sidewalk-dining ordinance to allow outdoor drinking and dining downtown until 1 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The decision makes legal what had already been happening in practice.
Eric Church, bar manager at Recreation Billiards on Fourth Street downtown, said the new ordinance was "a good compromise."
"I think it's nice, and I am happy to see the efforts to keep downtown Winston-Salem vibrant," Church said Monday. "I hope they enforce the changes."
Enforcement had been part of the debate, which began about five months ago. Before Monday night, Winston-Salem city ordinances prohibited outdoor drinking and dining downtown, though police enforced that law only when there were complaints.
Initially, some downtown residents said that making al fresco drinking and dining legal would only add to the noise downtown. The city has a noise ordinance; the new sidewalk dining ordinance approved Monday also includes noise limits: sound from downtown bars and restaurants cannot be so loud that it can be heard 300 feet away, and bar and restaurant employees cannot dump trash or recycling between midnight and 7 a.m.
Council member Wanda Merschel, who represents the city's Northwest Ward and who lives downtown, said she was pleased with the downtown businesses and residents who worked out a compromise.
Merschel said downtown streets with bustling restaurants and bars feel safer than the ones that have closed-up shops at night.
"I work downtown, we eat downtown, and we enjoy and appreciate those things that are unique to downtown," Merschel said. "I truly believe that the best of our city is ahead of us, not behind us, and to ensure that that happens, we have to have a vibrant downtown."
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