Tulsa Passes Ordinance Giving Parks Director Authority To Prohibit Alcohol In City Parks

The City of Tulsa is hoping a new ordinance will help stop people from drinking too much and causing problems at city parks.

It gives the Parks Director the authority to ban alcohol in certain parks.

Anna America, the Parks Director, says this is not a ban on alcohol in parks.

Instead, it gives the director the power to restrict drinking if there are a lot of complaints on a specific park.

The City Council passed that ordinance at its meeting Wednesday evening.

America says this will keep the parks safe and clean.

"We wanted that to be one of the tools in very specific instances if we're having problems related to too many people using alcohol,” said America. “What can happen sometimes as a result of that, you'll get trash, inappropriate behavior, some things like that."

America says this ordinance will also make it easier for police to enforce the law when it comes to people acting out at parks.

"Police can come to a park, there can be somebody sitting there, and there can be a bunch of bottles there, but unless they saw that person litter, that's hard to enforce,” said America.

The ordinance says people can’t have glass bottles in a park or drink in the parking lot, but it’s not illegal to have alcohol in a park.

"The reality is most people who do drink in a park drink very responsibly, maybe a softball team where people have a few beers afterward, or a family picnic, or a few women who are doing a book club and maybe have wine in their cup or something,” said America.

She says going in and banning alcohol will only happen if there are a bunch of complaints.

“The decision was, there was no reason to go in and penalize people who were behaving appropriately,” said America. “What some cities do is require permits or things. We didn't want to put unnecessary burdens on citizens who are not creating a problem at all."

America says if you see any problems with your parks or have any complaints about them, contact the parks department.

For more information, CLICK HERE.