DAYTON — Dayton residents will voice their opinions on the possibility of expanding the city’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) at a city commission meeting Wednesday night.
The Downtown Dayton Partnership submitted a petition to the city in March to create a new DORA in the city.
Before residents took to the microphone at a public hearing during Wednesday’s city commission meeting, News Center 7 spoke to those who live and work in the downtown area. Residents we spoke to think expanding the DORA will help stores and businesses across the city.
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‘[It would] be good for a lot of the businesses down here,” Erica Chudy, of Dayton, said.
Currently, people are only allowed to take alcoholic beverages outside businesses in the Oregon District. A spokesperson for the Downtown Dayton Partnership told News Center 7 that the proposed new DORA would dissolve the Oregon District DORA’s and incorporate it into the new Downtown Dayton DORA.
The new proposed district would span from “roughly bounded” by Wilkinson Street to the west, Riverscape MetroPark and the Great Miami River to the north, Keowee Street to the east, and Sixth Street to the south.
Blake Burnside works at Canal Street Arcade and Deli. He told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott that expanding the DORA would be a good thing.
“I think it’s going to drive new business and maybe get more people to come out and just have a good time,” Burnside said.
He also believes the change could boost sales.
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“We need all the business we can get here and then it will help other businesses as well,” Burnside told McDermott.
Robert Crow, Moeller Brew Barn general manager, said a move like this is “always a positive.”
If the proposal gets the green light, Dayton police previously said they do not plan to set up more patrols downtown.
“I think everybody will probably be pretty level-headed, but obviously there’s a few people that you never know,” Burnside said.
The public hearing on the matter will take place at Wednesday’s Dayton City Commission meeting at 6 p.m.