It seems like a few police cruisers rolling down Main and Cresson while the bars are closing would solve alot of problems. Do they not do this now?

Any bar area is going to have issues. There will always been knuckleheads, but they are thankfully very few in number...but the result is that they get all the attention. The MNC is working with Councilman Nutter and the MDC to try to 1) Get police to get out of their cars 2) Get a couple more officers to patrol.

What is funny is that in comparison to Center City and Olde City ... Manayunk has far fewer bars than either of those two. I would say that the crowd is getting a little older, definitely older than Olde City now.

Another part of the problem is Manayunk is a lot smaller than Old City. We have a lot of row homes right off Main Street. The rowdy, late night crowd is passing right in front of their windows!

If Michael Nutter were more concerned about our district and less concerned about running for mayor, maybe he would actually deal with these qulaity of life problems. The bars could hire off-duty cops to patrol ON FOOT outside of these places up until the very last patron is back home in Villanova. But without a leader who will hold their feet to the fire, why would they bother? Nutter should be ashamed of himself. Why are the community groups doing his work for him?

I think that's a completely unfair statement to make about Nutter. It is clear to me that he does care about this community - and the City. As a City Councilman, it is his job to do more than suggest foot patrols for Main Street (and in fact, that's not his job at all). Such legislation would never pass City Council and if it did, it would surely be the subsequent subject of litigation.

We can't blame the "evils" of a few simply on bar owners. It's a bigger problem than that, and the civics are moving in the right direction. One of the potential solutions to some of this mess is a zoning overlay. I suspect, when completed, Nutter would support that.

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Picking up the phone and telling the bar owners that he wants them to hire off-duty police officers to patrol the perimeters and area surrounding their bars from 10PM to 3AM, Thursday thru Saturday is DEFINATELY his job. It's called constituent services. They will listen to him, pay for the extra personnel and our problems would be lessened. You don't need legislation for that. As I see it, Nutter is MIA on almost every major quality of life problem in the area. And he has passed the tough work on to the community group. My opinion.

I think this area is very lucky to have a councilman such as Nutter - he is so much more visible and avaiable than some others. Sure he's a politician - but he's good at it; and he has, many times over, supported issues that were important to his constituants rather than following party line.

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Karen:
Here's the problem. The city has little control over the bars and restaurants - other than your typical L&I sorts of issues.

Nuisance bars are controlled by the DA's office - a special task force - and limited normally to bars where drugs, fights, etc. are the problem.

Normal enforcement issues are handled by the State Police (ever since all enforcement powers for LCB were cut by the state legislature). And, if you've ever tried to get anything done through either of those two (LCB and/or Liquor enforcement), you would know that neighborhood concerns are seldom enforced or even listened to.

And local police officials feel that they have more important problems (and they probably do).

While Nutter is my councilman, he has only been such for less than a year. I don't know how well he has done by his constituents . . . but, as you can tell here, most seem to have a favorable opinion of him.

The unfortunate thing is that most bar owners don't give a damn about the neighborhood in which they make their money - at least in those "hot" neighborhoods like Old City or Manayunk. I think that owners are more responsive in areas like Fairmount or parts of University City, since they derive a good deal of their business from local folks. Main Street and 2nd Street (OC) bar owners couldn't give much of a damn (and I should have mentioned South Street) about neighborhood problems that they cause.

And even worse, they know that the LCB and state police won't chase them for anything short of major mayhem.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

I think you're wrong.

And I think it's passing the buck to suggest that Nutter make the bar owners responsible for patroling the area at their expense. Do any other areas of the City do this? I'd be surprised to hear it... Chris? OC?

And I think it's naive to suggest that bar owners who don't care about community now will care with a call from Nutter.

As to MIA on quality of life problems? I guess you haven't been following what's been happening in our community. The 100 Steps were restored this year based on Nutter's efforts. La Noce Park was completely rehabbed last year, thanks to Nutter's efforts. Ridge Ave is the first Neighborhood Improvement District in the City, thanks to Nutter.

On a personal level, when I was concerned about lead levels in the water in our neighborhood, I wrote his office a letter. At his request, I received calls from the Water Department offering to test my water (I took them up on it) and offered me an explanation as to what was going on in Philly with the water.

I have always found Nutter's office to be responsive.

Could he do more? Sure he could.

But is he one of the hardest working folks on City Council? You bet.

Does he care about our community? Definitely.

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