NY Mayor does not like beer drinkers

Saw this article in the paper.

Ahhh, the joys of a summer day, when the toughest decision might be the choice between a perfectly chilled bottle of wine and an ice cold beer.

That choice might be a little easier these days in New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg uncorked a brouhaha by suggesting that while drinking wine in the park with the symphony is fine, beer and the beach just don't mix.

The comment has set off allegations of snobbery and classism, a problem for the billionaire mayor who was already perceived by many New Yorkers as unable to relate to them and their problems.

The whole mess started on the Fourth of July, when people hosting a fund-raiser on Rockaway Beach in Brooklyn for memorials to World Trade Center victims were rousted by police for drinking beer.

The city's open-container law bans alcohol in parks and beaches.

A few days later, thousands of people sipped wine in Central and Prospect parks as they listened to the New York Philharmonic, the nation's oldest orchestra, during free performances followed by fireworks. Police did not issue a single citation.

A photograph on the front page of the Daily News the morning after the Prospect Park concert showed Bloomberg sitting on the lawn next to music lovers imbibing wine. One concertgoer, according to the paper, even offered the mayor a shot of vodka - which was politely declined.

Bloomberg said that enforcement of public drinking laws is at the discretion of individual police officers and that his neighbors in the park were "behaving."

He said inebriated people on the beach run a much greater risk of harming themselves, as opposed to those who drink in the more placid confines of the park.

"I don't know of anybody that's drowned in a tuba recently," Bloomberg declared when asked about the discrepancy.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said drinking wine in the parks when the symphony plays is a cherished rite of summer in the city.

"There happens to be a four-decade tradition of Philharmonics in the park," Benepe said. "The tradition has been that people have come out and have a bottle of wine ... There have never been problems related to that."

It's not fair, some New Yorkers say.

"Clearly, there's a class bias," said Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College. "Bloomberg is from the Chablis and brie set, not the beer and burger set."

The idea that beer is the brew of the lower classes is not new: In about

350, the Roman Empire denounced beer as "the brew of barbarians."

Wine lovers say many beer drinkers revel in what is sometimes a crude image, in television commercials, at keg parties or on T-shirts.

"Listen, there is no equivalent for wine of that 'Reasons Why Beer is Better than Women' T-shirt," said Alan Roberts, a Manhattan salesman who bought a bottle each of cabernet sauvignon and pinot grigio at a downtown liquor store.

But Jon Bloostein, owner of the upscale Heartland Brewery and Chop House chain, said that as the quality of beer continues to increase, prejudice against beer drinkers diminishes.

"There isn't the same kind of snob appeal with wine-drinkers that there once was," he said.

Counters Roberts: "Bacchus is the god of wine, but there is no god of beer, unless you count Homer Simpson."

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Reply to
mary
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"mary" wrote on 12 Jul 2003:

Yawn. The problem isn't beer vs. wine. It's "chance of possibly drowning or getting in trouble and costing the city an assload of money" vs. "going to sit on a blanket and perhaps babble incessantly and annoy the neighbors but that's about it".

I've brought beer to Central Park for the Philharmonic as well as wine. People of "all classes" listen to the music on the free evenings; it's a fun thing even for people whose classical knowledge extends only to the Pops.

If nothing else, under Bloomberg we're again allowed to drink beer outside at street fairs and block parties. Witness Brooklyn Brewery today, for instance, where people were once again allowed to drink a beer outside the conifnes of the building.

Ninkasi. HTH.

Nothing against you, "Mary," as you're just reprinting the article. I just get pissed at the Daily News for blowing this way out of proportion.

Witzel

Reply to
Dave Witzel

Dionysus. Look him up.

Reply to
A. Nonymoose

Another story (I think it was the Daily News) noted that Bloomberg said something to effect of, "No, thanks, I'd rather have a beer but it's wrong..." when offered the drink.

It also noted that people in front of Bloomberg were drinking "...a dark Belgian ale called Corsedonk" so perhaps Belgians are OK, or maybe just beer in what looks to a cop like a wine bottle is OK. (That's why I bottled some of my home brew in green deposit soda pop bottles years ago.)

Gods? Let's not bring religion into this mess, too.

But there's Gambrinus for brewers, and that's good enough for me...

Reply to
peter_ballantine3rings

Bzzzzzz. Thanks for playing.

Bacchus is the Roman name for the same deity. Look him up. While you're at it, check out Zeus/Jupiter, et al.

--Jeff Frane

Reply to
Jeff Frane

Add St. Arnold to the beer pantheon. All the winos have is a single "god" with two names - Bacchus/Dionysius.

Reply to
Oh, Guess

To be pedantic (and why not?), St Arnold isn't a god, he's a saint. There is a distinction.

And, it's wrong. The patron saint of brewers is St Augistine of Hippo Or, depending on the source, alternatives are Amand (also patron saint of bar staff, bartenders and barkeepers -- and Boy Scouts), Arnulf of Soissons (could be St Arnold by a different name), Barbara (booted from the Calendar in 1969), Boniface, Dorothy of Caesarea, Florian, Lawrence, Luke the Apostle, Medard, Nicholas of Myra (Santa Claus!) or Wenceslas (patron saint of Bohemia).

Ain't religion cool?

--Jeff Frane

Reply to
Jeff Frane

So much Pendantry.

Beloved Barbara? Booted from the roster? Say it ain't so!

Also, note these are all patron Saints, not Gods, and we wuz talking about God of Beer designations.

(ObMyOwnPedantry: I bet it's St. Aug*u*stine.)

Please, there are patron saints for everything, since the Catholic Church seems to find it necessary to canonize anyone who was nice to some lepers once upon a time. With a little luck, you could be the patron saint of Light Rail in a hundred years.

No, not really, God-boy.

Witzel

Reply to
Dave Witzel

Except for the patron saint of tornado protection, of course. ;-)

Brian

Reply to
Brian Lundeen

Counters Roberts: "Bacchus is the god of wine, but there is no god of beer, unless you count Homer Simpson." >>

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Norm Peterson aka Nahm (said in unison!)

Reply to
TOM KAN PA

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