By Thomas Breen, New Haven Independent
NEW HAVEN, CT — After two consecutive years of downtown shootings on Halloween — including one that left an 18-year-old innocent bystander dead — the city plans to up its police presence and nix all under-21 "juice bars" this holiday weekend.
Mayor Justin Elicker and Police Chief David Zannelli made that announcement at a Wednesday afternoon press conference held in Temple Plaza.
"Juice bars" refer to areas of downtown clubs that are specifically designated for people under the age of 21, and where alcohol is not supposed to be served. City officials have previously blamed juice bars for making it too easy for too many visiting young people to access alcohol illegally and then get into trouble downtown.
One of the focal points of Wednesday's presser was the alders' recent passage of two bills on this front — one that prohibits the opening of new juice bars in New Haven, another that creates a local permitting process for existing juice bars and increases fines for those that break the rules. (See more on that below, and click here to read a letter sent by the Elicker administration to eligible juice bar operators on Monday.)
Standing alongside two dozen elected officials, police officers, and other downtown residents and business representatives on Wednesday, Elicker and Zannelli convened the press conference three days before Halloween, which falls on Saturday this year.
Zannelli said that police will "double or triple" their presence downtown this weekend, which should translate to roughly 50 officers in total. He said the police department will deploy traffic and motorcycle units, uniformed officers, and drones. It will also be working with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, including Yale police, to bolster its presence during what should be a busy weekend for downtown's restaurants, bars, and clubs.
Elicker added that the city will also deploy non-armed uniformed employees — in the form of public works workers, who will be charged with keeping the city streets swept and clean.
Elicker, Zannelli, State Rep. Al Paolillo Jr., and downtown Alders Christine Kim and Elias Theodore also spoke about New Haven's new juice bar regulations.
Elicker said that these "juice bars" have historically provided under-aged visitors to downtown New Haven with easy access to alcohol, leading to large, hectic gatherings that sometimes turn violent.
Such violence has occurred downtown on each of the past two Halloweens.
In 2024, a shooting that took place near Church Street and Center Street injured four people between the ages of 19 and 22.
And in 2025, a shooting that took place in that very same area, near Church and Center outside of Gotham Citi nightclub, killed an 18-year-old Norwich resident named Alexa Acevedo and injured three others between the ages of 18 and 21. City police estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 people were present downtown that night.
"Juice bars contributed to the unsafe conditions" that led to last year's fatal shooting, Theodore said.
With that in mind, the state legislature passed legislation this year allowing municipalities to crack down on juice bars. The Board of Alders passed two such bills earlier this month.
According to Elicker, a new city zoning law prohibits the opening of any new juice bars in town. He said that another newly signed bill establishes a permitting process for existing juice bars, limiting such permits to businesses that have had a state-issued "cafe permit" for at least ten years and that have been in good standing — that is, no trouble with city police or the state Liquor Control Commission — for at least two years.
Elicker and city Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Becky Bombero said that there are currently 15 businesses in New Haven that meet both of those criteria and are therefore eligible to apply to host "juice bar" events.
Elicker and Zannelli said that, per the police chief's discretion under this new local law, Zannelli has ordered that no juice bar events take place in downtown New Haven this Halloween weekend.
The bill also increases fines from $250 to between $2,500 and $10,000 for juice bars that violate the rules laid out in one of the new laws.
"This ordinance is not about ending fun for young people in New Haven," Theodore said. It's about encouraging safe and regulated fun, and discouraging drinking among people under the age of 21.
Juice bars too often are examples of businesses "profiting from risk to other people's children," said Kim, who has also been the lead in remonstrance hearings before the Liquor Control Commission for the downtown clubs Rumaj (now closed) and Secrets.
"To every business that plays by the rules," she added, "this is for you, too."
The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.
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