West Ends [temporarily]

BrooklynDodger asks that readers not assume that she or he attended Columbia from this reference to the upper West Side. For those concerned about cultural life in NY, the End has reopened.

Cops Card West End; Bar Shut For NowLocal Hotspot Violates Underage Drinking Laws, Served to Undercover Police

Back in the day at Columbia, the thought of someone being carded at the West End, much less closing the bar, would have been front page news. Apparently, it still is, at least at Spectator.

This is one more example of how enforcement of drinking rules makes things worse. The most dangerous situation for kids is drinking in their room, maybe alone. Although you hear of alcohol poisoning incidents in bars – someone pounds 21 shots on their 21st birthday [at U of M or MSU] – there’s an economic cost to drinking too much in the bar, and there are people around.

No one is driving home from the West End, either.

So all this enforcement does is push the party into a more dangerous place.