What's at stake?
Outdoor drinking may soon be allowed during special events in downtown Fresno's Brewery District.
The Fresno City Council unanimously approved an initial vote for the policy. A second vote will come during the next council meeting.
The Fresno City Council unanimously approved the first reading for a pilot program that would allow businesses in the Brewery District to sell alcohol outdoors, allowing people to drink in public during certain special events.
The one-year pilot program would establish “entertainment zones” largely centered along the Fulton corridor and a few streets surrounding the Brewery District in downtown Fresno. These zones will only activate during special events, and businesses will need to apply for special permits to take advantage.
On paper, city leaders say, the zones could bring in a range of benefits like increased foot traffic to the downtown businesses.
But the city has had mixed results when meddling with downtown business affairs in recent years.
ArtHop, for example, a monthly outdoor street fair held on Fulton street, was shut down for 10-months when the city added what critics described as too much bureaucratic red tape to the process. Though the event is now back, some vendors argue it’s still recovering from the shut down, and certainly some bad blood remains between them and the city.
“I love a good idea,” Councilmember Nick Richardson said. “I don’t want to force a good idea on small businesses that don’t want to participate, especially in times of economic struggle.”
Entertainment zones are not new, nor a creation by the Fresno City Council.
The first such policy was introduced in the state in San Francisco in 2024. Since then, state legislation has passed to allow for more cities and counties across the state to introduce their own entertainment zones, at their discretion.
Eliott Balch, director of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, said local businesses took notice, and have been asking for an entry into the potentially lucrative practice.
“Our Brewery District businesses saw the legislation, saw the opportunity, and said, ‘you know, we think it can happen here,’” Balch said at the meeting.
The businesses will need to submit a plan to the city that includes how they would be addressing measures like security detail, event cleanup, and proper alcohol consumption during these events.
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White assured the council on Thursday that her office, which would be in the loop on permitting processing, would not approve an application that did not pass their standards for security.
Still, some residents have clamored against the policy, arguing that it only fuels violent crime and drunken driving cases in downtown during these events. Some said sensitivity should especially be applied to the Brewery District following a recent homicide during an outdoor event.
About half a dozen residents spoke at Thursday’s meeting to protest the policy’s approval, with more sharing opposition online leading up to the meeting.
Residents like Alfred Aldrete said such policies could continue to fuel the stigma that Fresno is the “Drunkest City In America.” The city was given that title well-over a decade ago by Men’s Health Magazine.
A review of how successful the policy is faring is expected to be brought before the council around December, according to city staff.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents the Brewery District, said he sees the policy as Fresno leveling up its offerings to the public. He said he also sees it as a test of whether Fresno “can do what big cities do,” something he said is a common complaint from constituents.
“That’s the type of stuff that occurs in big cities already, and automatically it demonstrates a level of maturity by the public, by the community, and by the municipality” Arias said. “I think we’re ready for that, and I’m happy that we’re taking baby steps to get there.”
Businesses will also be on the hook for rule breaking and overall bad behavior from business owners and residents. City staff said penalties for businesses can include the loss of their liquor licenses — a near-death penalty for establishments in the area that largely surround their sales around alcohol.
Arias also dished concerns of public safety back to constituents, especially parents and older residents. He said residents should be more responsible for themselves when drinking around young residents, and better compose themselves when drinking alcohol overall.
He said the city would do its best to have proper security measures in place, like police officers, during these events, but added that “we’re not babysitters.”
“We are not the parents of every teenager in this Central Valley who decides to allow their teenagers to come to public events with no supervision,” Arias said.
The policy will need to be voted on a second time by the Fresno City Council before it is fully adopted. It would then go into effect about a month after the second vote, which is expected to come at the next Fresno City Council meeting.
It is not yet known what the first event to have an activated entertainment zone would be. But Balch added that the city would be sensitive to when it activates the zones.
“There’s less desire to bring it into current events, like ‘Leave ArtHop alone,’ for example,” Balch said. “There’s interest in how this could be part of new events, like a New Year’s party…but that planning hasn’t happened yet.”
