EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. (KY3) – The Eureka Springs Permanent Entertainment District Trial Run is in its final month.
With an entertainment district running everyday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., there is a lot of ground to cover and lessons to learn about how to make it work safely.
To make understanding this trial easier, Eureka Springs Police Chief Billy Floyd set up a patrol checklist to track disturbances, alcohol-related incidents, damage reports, noise complaints, and how many times they’ve had to remind people of the rules.
Floyd says that last point has been slowly getting better as people learn what the rules are.
“The first 30 days,” Floyd said, “there were a lot of people that had legally obtained their cup, they were doing everything, but they weren’t wearing their wristband. Well, obviously they were given one, they just didn’t know they had to put it on while they were drinking, those types of things. You know, it’s not a crime to necessarily leave your cup sitting on the curb, but there was a pretty big uptick in the beginning of alcohol containers being found. That seems to have dropped off.”
The patrol list is not a formal police or arrest report, but it is a way to see patterns and note what areas might need improvement if the district were to become permanent.
As far as those official reports go, Floyd says there have only been 2 entertainment district alcohol calls, but because of factors like heat and an increase in other events driving more tourism, he is unsure it is entirely because of the district.
Throughout this process, some people have proposed a larger entertainment district area to include more businesses.
However, Floyd says he’ll always be resistant to a larger area because it would include state highways where intoxication doesn’t mix well.
At the same time, he will enforce whatever is decided by city council or the people.
“If council passes it,” said Floyd, “I’m not just gonna fold my arms and say we can’t enforce this. I work for the safety of the city and the pleasure of the mayor and council, so that’s my job. That’s kind of where there’s maybe a misconception on the part of the public is that I’m the one that doesn’t allow this. I don’t have a say in it. I’m just a consultant, so to speak.”
At a recent city council meeting, Eureka Springs city council decided to not put the entertainment district on the ballot, but that does not mean the issue cannot come up again.
“Safety is my bottom line,” Floyd said. “Tourism pays the bills. Tourism is the only industry we have in this city, and so that’s always a balance on my thing because we don’t want to run off tourists by being militant about anything. We don’t want to hamstring something that could help the city all together, but that’s why there is a balance between law enforcement, council, and tourism.”
The trial ends on September 30.
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