Menino proposes alcohol-free nightspots

It's a city where Samuel Adams is a local hero, all-night keg parties are legendary, and bars make a mint from thirsty students. But Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to entice young people away from booze-filled night life.

Menino unveiled plans yesterday for alcohol-free ''entertainment zones" where college students and young people could gather to listen to music, eat, and talk, but not drink alcohol. The zones would be designated by signs, initially near popular nightspots such as Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Lansdowne Street.

By designating entertainment zones, the city wants to encourage some businesses to convert all or part of their operations to alcohol-free venues and also to spawn new coffeehouses, music venues, or other businesses that don't serve alcohol, Menino and city officials said.

''We have to get beyond people going to bars and drinking," Menino said in a telephone interview yesterday. ''I hear from students all the time that they want places to go, they want more diversity. To enjoy the city, I guarantee you don't have to drink."

Councilor at Large Maura A. Hennigan, Menino's opponent in the November election, said the idea was poorly thought out.

But some business owners, students, and university officials applauded the plan when told about it yesterday.

The plan was announced amid a mayoral campaign in which Menino has been criticized for lacking new ideas or a clear blueprint of where he would like to take the city. He has occasionally asked local universities to exercise greater control over rowdy students. Last week, 160 North End residents gathered to complain to police that young people were disturbing the neighborhood on weekend nights.

''We can't tolerate that happening," Menino said. ''Maybe if we create some entertainment where young people can go, it would be the answer."

City officials are still in the preliminary stages of the idea and have just begun meeting with business owners to outline how the zones would work, said Mark Maloney, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

''We would like to see opportunities to have places where people can meet each other, where they can have something to eat, perhaps have music or entertainment, but not have it be in a bar or lounge area where alcohol is served," he said.

If the zones attract patrons seeking alcohol-free entertainment to Faneuil Hall and the Fenway, additional zones in Downtown Crossing and Brighton may also be created, Maloney said.

However, Hennigan was critical of the idea and its timing.

''He says this because it is weeks before the election and he is trying to look like he has some kind of vision or a plan," she said. ''This is just another ploy to pretend he is doing something. If it was for real, wouldn't he have already talked to the students about it? Wouldn't he already have talked to the businesses about it?"

But Michael Kelleher, vice president of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, said he has spoken to the mayor about the ice-cream parlors and coffee restaurants in Faneuil Hall staying open later for young patrons.

''I think this is win-win for everyone," he said, ''for the students, for the businesses, and for the entire city."

Kirstin Daniel, president of Emerson College's student government association, said she had no choice but to stay inside on weeknights until she turned 21 this year.

''I felt there wasn't really a lot for me to do in Boston as a college student," she said. ''We come to a city so we can be in the city, not be in the dorm."

Colin Riley, a spokesman for Boston University, said the zones would ''provide an alternative to underage drinking."

''The more alternatives that our young people have, the greater the likelihood that they will take advantage of these things," he said.

Officials have tried to curb underage drinking in Boston for years, but the zones are the first time in recent memory that a substitute entertainment scene has been offered.

Menino and Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole announced Operation Student Shield in January, a plan to crack down on public drinking, vandalism, and loud parties by students. It was a response to the death of Victoria Snelgrove, an Emerson College student who died last October as police tried to control crowds of young people celebrating the Red Sox American League championship victory.

Kelly Brilliant, executive director of the Fenway Alliance, a community association in the Fenway, said the zones would serve to ''heal the deep sore" some students felt after the riots.

''It's time to help the problem of the student's drinking and the rowdiness," she said. ''This is providing a positive alternative, instead of a wrist slapping."