Public safety meeting

    I attended last night's city council public safety committee meeting. The mayor's office had no representative nor was the police chief, John Tedesco, present. Apparently partisan political bickering between the mayor and the safety committee chairman Bill Dunne once again reared its head.
   This is exactly what I am running against. Regardless of which party you are in, this committee could not address public concerns effectively without the chief being present. The primary topic was the behavior of RPI students in the Beman Park area. Residents are concerned that students routinely leave O'Learys Bar at 4am drunk and engage in loud obnoxious behavior such as  a contest to see who can fill a cup faster while urinating in the middle of 15th street.
   OLearys owner was present and felt the police needed to be harder on these students who apparently get public intoxication tickets (occasionally) which only carry a $25 fine. He agreed to close earlier on a trial basis. I suggested, following up on Bill Dunne's thoughts, that perhaps the council could ask all the city taverns to consider closing earlier on a voluntary basis. They seem to feel that much of their revenue comes between 1am and 4 am. I believe nothing good ever happens on the streets after 2am. I further believe that if all the bars and taverns had last call at 2am and closed at 2:30 the patrons would adjust and would likely arrive earlier and drink from say 11pm-2am instead of 1am-4am.
    I certainly don't want to take revenue from bar and tavern owners, many of whom I know, but the quality of life in the neighborhoods  is also important and the two sides must work together.
     I doubt anyone wants to live on a street where at 4am every Thur,Fri or Sat you can predict a large group of drunken young people yelling and having urinating contests in the middle of the street.
     There are other topics that I think might have been discussed if the chief had been present. Last week, at a Lansingburgh Neighborhood meeting I attended  the chief sat and answered questions for two hours covering a wide range of topics. I felt he was honest and direct in his responses. It is a shame he wasn't present Tuesday night, as I believe he could have contributed significantly to the discussion.