Portage no longer exploring ‘DORA' idea for outdoor drinking area downtown

Chicago Tribune

06-03-2025

The Portage City Council rejected a proposal to create a designated outdoor drinking area downtown. The proposal was tabled last fall.
Mayor Austin Bonta pushed for the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area proposal, but it was voted down Tuesday by four of the six council members. Voting against it were Robert 'Bob' Parnell, R-2nd; Ferdinand Alvarez, D-At-large; Melissa Weidenbach, R-At-large; and Victoria Vasquez, R-3rd. Penny Ambler, R-4th, was absent.
The ordinance would have allowed bar patrons to leave an establishment with drink in hand to go elsewhere downtown, even to another bar.
Bar owners would have had to buy special plastic cups for that purpose.
'Simply put, people are already walking between those bars on a Saturday night. The difference is do they have a cup in their hand or do they not have a cup in their hand,' Bonta said.
Council members had plenty of questions about the concept.
Vasquez, the council's president, proposed amending the ordinance to not allow alcohol sales at Founders Square events on Sundays and not before 4 p.m. other days. That amendment failed.
Arguing in support of the restriction, Vasquez said, 'That way, young mothers with toddlers and families can go to there without feeling intimidated.'
Parnell, a pastor and nondrinker, said he was concerned about the legal risk of public intoxication around Founders Square where family and children gather, especially at the park and concert area.
Police Chief Michael Candiano offered his take on the proposal.
'My understanding is this is more about alcohol sales than consumption,' he said. 'If you're not aware, the laws in Indiana have changed. Public intoxication is not just being drunk in public; you've got to be creating a problem, you've got to be endangering yourself or somebody else. Just the act of drinking in public is not a crime.'
The open container law pertains to having a container in a vehicle, not just sitting on a lawn in public, Candiano added.
'This isn't necessarily encouraging more consumption of alcohol,' Councilman Collin Czilli said.
Rather, it allows people to go from one area to another with a drink in their hand. A beer garden would restrict where alcohol could be sold without restricting consumption.
'This just adds another opportunity to not have to drink fast or throw something away,' Bonta said.
In Indiana, it's perfectly legal to go outside with a cooler of beer or other alcoholic beverage and consume it in public, he said.
Downtown, where the proposed DORA would have been located, the Redevelopment Commission owns the baseball diamonds and other property. The RDC, as a property owner, could prohibit alcohol consumption on its property. That's an unwritten rule already, Bonta said.
Likewise, the Park Board could prohibit alcohol consumption in parks, with notable exceptions for special permitted events.
Bonta said there are many other places in Indiana, including some in Northwest Indiana, that have created DORA districts.
The ordinance was first proposed in November and tabled in December. Bonta brought it back up Tuesday to see if the district could be created before special events at Founders Square start up when the weather improves.