Baltimore took an important step last year when it expanded the ability of bars and restaurants to offer live entertainment. Without a more vibrant nightlife, Baltimore would never be able to break through in the public imagination as a world-class city.
But left somewhat unresolved in this push for a more dynamic Baltimore were the more unsavory aspects of the nightlife we do have. After all, "world class city" and "drunk people vomiting in flower pots" don't really go together.
That's why City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young's attention to the issue of nuisance crimes in some of Baltimore's bar-hoppingest neighborhoods is so important. One of the great attractions for people to choose the city instead of the suburbs is the possibility of living a short walk from bars, restaurants and live music venues, but it wouldn't take too many instances of drunks getting in fights on your sidewalk at 2 a.m. or treating your alley as an open-air outhouse for that charm to wear off.
Mr. Young is planning to introduce at tonight's council meeting legislation that would increase fines for public drunkenness, violations of open container laws, and public urination and defecation, among other nuisances. He has pitched the legislation in part as a way to raise revenue for the cash-strapped city, but that's not really the point. The fines he's talking about — $1,000 for disorderly drinking or $500 for drinking on the street — are large enough that they probably won't get levied all that much. The current penalties, as little as $50, might be considered part of the cost of going out; a $1,000 fine should be enough to make even the most dedicated partiers sober up.
Baltimore needs to strike a balance between being exciting enough to attract people to live in the city and calm enough not to drive them away. Mr. Young's idea should help achieve that.