Despite lingering concern over an ordinance to suppress problems at large-scale pop-up parties, the Normal Town Council passed the measure this week. It came back to the council with changes after community pushback.
The senior member of the council tells doubters the ordinance is not the only thing to do to address the issue.
“This is one action and one step of a very complicated complex social community issue," said mayor pro tem Kevin McCarthy. "I don’t think it's fair or reasonable to heap all the expectations of solving the problem with one ordinance."
He said the people who have expressed the idea of investing in the community instead of imposing a punitive ordinance have a point.
“But I don’t think these are either, or conversations. They are ‘and’ conversations,” McCarthy said. “We are not the only player here. What can we do with our partners is a good fundamental question and starting place?"
He also said there does need to be deterrence and the whopping fines of up to $5,000 can do that. Some have objected to that fine's level, saying college students cannot afford that. McCarthy responded that he’s not sure university students are the main organizers of such gatherings.
There's also a question of whether an ordinance would be an effective deterrent if party organizers do not know of the provisions. Publicity and use of the regulation is the answer to that, McCarthy implied.
“Hopefully, we won’t have to levy $1,000 to $5,000 fines very frequently," he said. "I assume at some point we’re going to have to do that."
Other critics of the new ordinance have said it's too complicated. For instance, police must document multiple ordinance violations and have a shift supervisor approve the order to disperse an unruly crowd. Officers have to make a series of judgment calls about a fluid situation in a short time period. McCarthy said it's complicated for a reason.
"It's a delicate line we're trying to walk," he said. "We're trying not to suppress speech, trying not to suppress culture, while also instilling some confidence in the public who are very concerned about this issue."
Another critique is the provision that exempts party organizers from heavy fines if they assist police in reducing problems that arise. Some contend organizers share blame for any problems — regardless of good-faith efforts to address them on the spot. McCarthy said he thinks that exemption is intended to apply to organizers who take precautions to reduce the likelihood of problems the party started.
“Clearly somebody just selling wristbands on social media and doing nothing else is taking zero safeguards, but people who are getting permits are,” said McCarthy, adding that provisional gives some comfort to music event organizers.
“Which was a large concern from the cultural arts community… that they we don’t want a little concert to go afoul here because some people were underage drinking or underage cannabis there, but the organizers limited the tickets and limited the venue and did all the things up front,” McCarthy said. “It is a very good and important nuance to try to protect those people who put on events.”
He said there are historical precedents that suggest ways to deal with unruliness, offered by former mayor Paul Harmon.
“Student involvement. Students were approaching to go in and try to defuse parties and settle down large gatherings,” said McCarthy, who acknowledged that could create safety concerns for the students enlisted by authorities.
“But we’re a government and we’re not immersed in party culture," McCarthy said. "I think it would be helpful for us to engage with those who are, to try to understand how it’s working, and he we can allow people some freedoms to enjoy themselves."
He said the ordinance is not intended to be perfect, but it’s a good start and there will be plenty of time to improve it as needed.
Underpass bids
McCarthy said he did not suffer sticker shock when the town unveiled a more than $35 million bid to build the rail line underpass in Uptown. It's millions more than the most recent estimate of the project cost — $29 million according to McCarthy — but he said anyone who has been paying attention realized there would be inflation.
"I'm going to wait for the project team to dig in and roll up their sleeves into the bids," he said. "It's a very large and complex project. There's going to be a lot to go through. I don't know that we're going to hear anything very quickly."
McCarthy said the town will look for ways to reduce costs and seek other revenue sources. He said staff could also recommend building the underpass, and accompanying amphitheater in phases.
