1. Let's quit bull-shitting; the real intent of the proposal is to curb cruising on the Ave. The problem is that this forces the teenagers elsewhere in town. Not only will they pick a new strip for cruising, but the police will be forced to branch out more in their patrols.
2. Closing the main drag through downtown does nothing but cause a traffic nightmare. I'm all in favor of pedestrian zones, but not when the pedestrian zone closes the main east-west route through the center of town.
3. There isn't a damn thing to do downtown other than drink. Closing the streets just better facilitates pub crawls.
4. The argument is that closing the street off proved very popular for the celebration of the re-opening of the street. Yes, that may be true, but that was a one-time opportunity. People in this town aren't going to come out every weekend to do nothing.
5. Wouldn't it make more sense to close the street when people are awake and the shops are open? Closing the street after 9 on Friday and Saturday nights achieves nothing, as most people in this one-horse town are already going to bed and there is nothing for them to do downtown even if they weren't. Once again, we're back to points #1 (this is only being done to curb cruising) and #3 (we're only going to facilitate pub crawls).

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I don't understand how 14 of the 16 alderpersons voting didn't see the sheer stupidity of this idea. I'm starting to hate this town.