BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen is looking to close a loophole on the co-mingling ordinance.
Since 2012, those under the age of 21 have not been allowed in the city's nightclubs. But unless the city closes a loophole, you could see some minors partying with the adults.
The technical term for it is called "co-mingling." For the last seven years, it's been illegal for nightclubs on Chippewa to allow co-mingling except by permit for special events, much to the frustration of some bar owners and young partiers.
When the city passed its Green Code in 2016, the rules around this got murky and Council President Pridgen is worried that bars on Chippewa will start letting people under 21 in.
"We gonna make that adjustment and work with the bars as we already have in the past. I think that we have a successful co-mingling ordinance that the neighbors around there, that the bars that did not co-mingle and that the bars that did, worked together so we, as you see, we stopped seeing some of those problems out of the co-mingling," Council President Pridgen said. He continued, "Because they had to come before the council, request their dates, so that way we knew what was going on. We were able to notify the police and we were able to move forward."
At Tuesday afternoon's Common Council meeting, Council President Pridgen will be pushing for changes made to the Green Code.
He adds that there have been no complaints at this point, but rather requests from bars to do co-mingling once again.
