Stamford Reps. Extend Ordinance Aimed At Curbing Public Drinking

STAMFORD, CT — Stamford has extended its pilot program aimed at curbing the public consumption of alcohol on city sidewalks.

An ordinance was implemented last May with a one-year duration so officials could determine the efficacy of enforcement.

The Board of Representatives last week held a special meeting and issued a unanimous voice vote to extend the ordinance for the pilot program by six months.

The ordinance prohibits people from consuming any alcoholic beverages or having an open container "on or within the limits of any public highway or public area within the City of Stamford." It applies to people in parked cars as well, and there's an exception for permitted events.

Those who violate the ordinance are subject to $100 tickets from the Stamford Police Department.

Several Representatives spoke in favor of the ordinance during the board's special meeting, but they wanted to ensure it was enforced in all areas of the city, not just on the West Side.

Rep. Bonnie Kim Campbell (D-5) said residents on the West Side contacted her, Rep. Jeffrey Stella (D-9), and Rep. Kindrea Walston (D-9) last year about people drinking alcohol on the sidewalks on Alden and which led to the creation of an ordinance.

"That's where the problem started," she said.

Campbell said, "The behavior still continues, but there has been improvement." She noted Stamford police "didn't go overboard in issuing tickets," and hoped officers would conduct enforcement in the downtown area.

According to statistics from the SPD associated with the Board of Reps. meeting materials, 31 tickets were issued from June 2023 through April 2024. Out of those tickets, 16 were given to Latino men, 10 were given to Black men, and five were issued to white residents (two men, three women).

Twenty-nine of the tickets were handed out on the West Side, and two were issued downtown.

Walston said she was against the ordinance last year because she felt it would "zoom in on people of color, and also target the West Side."

"I was very much in opposition of the ordinance because I didn't think it would be unified throughout the city," Walston said. "We got our statistics, and I was pleasantly surprised by the Stamford Police Department -- they were very patient with the people on the West Side who got those tickets."

Walston said she expected around 200-300 tickets to be issued, but she felt the SPD was "judicious" in issuing warnings first and directing people to get help.

The statistics did not specify if there were repeat offenders.