Naperville Residents Sound Off on Earlier Bar Times

Here is what some Naperville Patch commenters had to say about the proposed changes:

Paula Howland Cree: “It might be a great start at least..Why do bars need to be open so late anyway? Go home to drink people! I say close at 1am...last call at 12:30. There is no reason bars need to be open as late as they are here in Naperville...the only plus I see to that is the bars make more $$$...no need to pay for added police protection..why make the city pay more police..just close earlier..and the drunks will leave and go back to where they came from maybe.”John Moravecek: “I say close all bars everywhere at midnight every night.”Holly Gordon Lundgren: “I don’t think that would solve the problem. People who are going to get drunk and act foolishly or dangerously are going to do that whether bars close at 10 p.m. or 4 a.m.”Ben Ochoa: “No freaking way! Same ol’ story: irresponsible people create prohibition for all. Just do a better job from all angles, especially individuals responsibilities. All earlier hours did for St. Charles was deaden the night life too much, send residents to neighboring towns, or worse, have them start in St. Charles before driving under the influence to neighboring towns with later hours after area bars closed.”Shannon So-Bright: “Naperville needs to aim towards a 30yr old+ crowd and the bars need to up their prices....Younger people aren’t going to pay for overpriced food/beverages and they bring a lot of the issues.....These sort of things aren’t happening in lovely downtown Geneva!”Concerned Citizen: “I agree with the comments about closing the bars earlier is not the solution. I believe that the establishments, bartenders and servers need to be held more accountable on over-serving. Naperville requires all managers, bartenders and servers be Basset trained in Naperville. They are aware of the laws as they pertain to Naperville and the serving of alcohol. There needs to be more diligence and responsibility taken in the service of alcohol. Fines need to be issued to those who over-serve.”DD: “I don’t think changing the hours will change anything. These idiots will just drink more alcohol earlier. Then instead of all the bad things happening after 1am, they’ll happen at the new proposed closing times. In fact, they’ll be more dangerous to the public, because they’ll be out on the roads earlier when there are more of the sober population out on the roads.”

Naperville bars currently must close by 1 a.m. on the weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends.