Opinions Flow About Beer Garden Issue at Dormont Council Meeting

Though Dormont Council voted 6-1 earlier this month to eliminate the Beer Garden from this year's Dormont Street Fair on Oct. 8, the controversy about it continued at Monday night's agenda meeting.

At least two local bar owners lobbied council at this month's voting meeting to remove the Beer Garden from the annual fair because they said it has cost them thousands of dollars in business. At that meeting other residents and borough officials said they did not agree with the borough-sanctioned alcohol sales.

Councilman Drew Lehman, who was the lone vote against discontinuing the Beer Garden, noted that comments on the story about council's vote on Patch had been 3-1 in support of the Beer Garden, which raised money for the borough recreation program and Friends of Dormont Pool. He pointed out that some of the commenters even crossed the line of where they normally stand on council issues.

"They're not jaded by the fact that they don't like us," he said.

One of the controversial items, according to Council President Kim Lusardi, is that Grace Waters, part owner of , said she saw trays of beer being taken from the Beer Garden, which has sold craft beers not available in the local bars.

Lehman said that there were no trays available at the Beer Garden to carry out beer, so that he disputed that claim. He said that only the amount of beer that could be carried in two hands had ever been sold.

He also disputed some numbers provided by the two bars most affected—Breakers and Alberts—about the loss of sales during the Beer Garden hours, saying that the traffic likely drove more customers to them. He said when he had checked Breakers during the fair hours, the bar was full.

Waters had complained at the council meeting earlier this month that she had lost about $2,000 during the last two street fairs and another bar lost about $3,000.

Sandy Lober, a resident, said perhaps those two bars could donate a portion of their night's proceeds to the groups that benefited from the Beer Garden so that the revenue would not be entirely lost for the rec program and pool.

In response to a few comments about reaching out to businesses, Council Vice President Laurie Malka suggested that West Liberty Avenue businesses have a presence in the street fair, which is held along Potomac Avenue.

"I think the Beer Garden was a plus for the street fair," Lehman said, noting people could sample the craft beers and hear music. "I feel bad a couple people were able to come up here and sway (council). If there wasn't so much greed ... greed gets in the way of something good."

Lusardi said she voted against having the Beer Garden both this year and in 2010 because the borough's recreation program should not benefit from the sale of alcohol.

"We cannot make a profit on this," she explained.

There was some discussion about granting permits for the bars to have tables on the street for the event but officials said that was unlikely to be arranged this year with only two weeks left before the Street Fair on Oct. 8.