Credit Andy Robins / WMUK
New Year s Eve revelers will be able to take alcoholic drinks into Kalamazoo s Bronson Park this year.
City have commissioners added the park to the city s new social district. It s intended to help downtown bars and restaurants survive COVID-19. But resident Jeff Messer says the move doesn t go far enough. Rather than picking winners and losers among liquor purveyors and their customers, the City Commission should just repeal all prohibitions.
Members of the city s parks board opposed the change. They say the city should revisit the issue before next summer.
City Commissioner Chris Praedel supports the change. He says it will help struggling downtown businesses like bars and restaurants, and their employees, get through the pandemic.
Kalamazoo City commissioners have accepted an apology by City Manager Jim Ritsema.
He admitted Monday night that he didn t tell the Commission and the public that former Public Safety chief Karianne Thomas had been fired.
Ritsema says Thomas was allowed to retire in September, but only after he decided to end her contract. Following the protests during the summer, I believed Chief Thomas s ability to lead had been compromised, and it was in her and the city s best interests to part ways, Ritsema said.
Five commissioners told Ritsema that they don t want anything like that to happen again. But Commissioner Erin Knott and Vice-Mayor Patrece Griffin were less forgiving.