PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria movie theaters may soon have the opportunity to sell alcohol.
The Peoria City Council was presented with several options Tuesday night to vote on how theaters could sell alcohol.
Option A would be selling single serving size drinks, limited number, and different colored cups at the concessions.
Option B would require a more sit-down restaurant style environment to sell alcohol, where a server would bring the alcohol to the individual that is seated.
And, option C would be to deny both ideas.
Council member Denis Cyr moved to approve the option A, but there were concerns from other council members.
Council member Chuck Grayeb said that he would prefer the council approve option C, and deny alcohol in movie theaters.
“I believe you have a problem here with supervision. One of our biggest issues in this community is the abuse of alcohol. And, I just don’t see this as being something that is in the best interest of the movie theaters or our families who go to movie theaters,” Grayeb said.
Supervision was also a concern for council member Rita Ali.
“There’s a lot of children, many times unsupervised teenagers that hang out at the movie theaters. Parents are comfortable sending their children many times to the movie theater,” Ali said. “I don’t like the idea of mixing the alcohol with the family atmosphere. I think it will create many problems.”
Ali said she would rather go with option B, and not have the alcohol sold where popcorn is also sold.
Several members of the council were supportive of choosing option A. Council member Beth Jensen said that local theaters are struggling.
“I’m comfortable with procedures that they have in place to insure that the alcohol is served in a responsible manner,” Jensen said.
Procedures include different colored cups to differentiate between alcohol and a soft drink, and carding individuals every time they buy a an alcoholic drink.
Council member Sid Ruckregel said that option A is a happy medium.
“To be able to allow the theater owners to be able to operate in a very business like manner, to have the control of this, but there’s something in here that a lot of ordinances don’t have,” Ruckregel said. “And that’s a two drink maximum. So there is a limit there.”
Ruckregel said it is important to know that the city council can grant a theater the license to sell alcohol, but they can also take away the license if needed.
The council voted 8-2 to approve option A out of the three.
Since the council voted on how alcohol could be served in movie theaters, the next step is to vote if alcohol will be sold in movie theaters.
If the sale of alcohol is approved next week, theaters would have to go before the council and be granted the license to sell alcohol at the establishment.
