The so-called go cup ordinance was defeated at the Lafayette City-Parish council meeting Tuesday night. Councilmen voted 5 to 4 against the move that would ban public consumption of alcohol and possession of open containers on the McKinley strip, downtown district and Simcoe/Surrey Street corridor.

"I was very excited," said Mitch Briggs, who handed out 'save the go cup' fliers downtown over the weekend. "I was so stoked that it went through and that a much younger group rallied together and stood up for what was right.

The vote was a defeat for Police Chief Jim Craft, and Parish President Joey Durel, both of whom told the council the ordinance was a matter of necessity in controlling what they called growing, and often rowdy crowds downtown and elsewhere on the weekend.

"My heart kind of fell," said Sheila Forgason, a lifelong Lafayette resident, whose family home is plagued by debris from the nearby McKinley Street strip. "I will not give up, as long as I am breathing I have to protect what's been in my family," she said.

Jim Hummel

Permalink | Play Video| Comments