Still waiting to make your late, late night plans during the RNC in St. Paul this fall?
If you want to hang out with the Republicans between 2 and 4 AM come the first few days of Sept. you may be allowed to if St. Paul officials agree to a proposal to let bars stay open two hours later during the convention. Regulating bar hours isn’t as easy as you might think.
Apparently, St. Paul officials don’t have much to do so they have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out if they should allow bars in the city to stay open until 4 AM during the Republican National Convention.
City officials compiled a list of qualified applicants but admitted their records may not be current.
“Inspectors are out as we speak, counting (seats),”
We can all be thankful that city inspectors are out counting seats – otherwise they might do something beneficial for the city.
Why do they care how many seats an establishment offers? Their proposal limits applicants to those in the downtown district and commercial development districts. Outside those areas, establishments must be on record with the city as having “at least 291 seats” to qualify.
Why 291 seats? I have no idea.
Fredson [deputy chief of staff to Mayor Chris Coleman], asked how the city came up with the 291-seat figure, said officials had to find a way to limit the number of neighborhood establishments that could be open.
A public hearing on the issue will be held June 18.
Fortunately, the city will be able to collect a $2500 fee from businesses that opt stay open later. That should cover their seat counting costs.
Minneapolis-St. Paul is envious of Denver, wishing they were hosting the Democratic Convention instead of the Republican Convention.
Back in 2006, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington made an unusual bid for both national party conventions.
“They decided as a group that this isn’t about politics, it’s about business,” said Erin Dady, St. Paul’s director of convention planning. “It’s a great chance to showcase our region to the world.”
After months of courting, the Democratic Party finally took a shine to the Twin Cities. They said they liked us but couldn’t commit. That’s when the GOP surprised everyone by racing in and asking us first.
…
Thanks to the precedent-shattering race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Denver is winning the buzz contest in a landslide. Just do a Google search.
More than 2 million Web sites mention the words “Democrat 2008 convention Denver.” That’s almost 10 times the mentions for the Republican convention.
“There’s no question Barack Obama is a rock star — he is the single most charismatic figure the Democrats have had since JFK,” said Maccabee, a Democrat. “No matter how much one admires (Sen. John) McCain, the passion, the stardust, is on Obama.
