The City of Green Bay and the Brown County Tavern League have partnered to create the “SafePark” community initiative. The purpose of SafePark is to deter, prevent, and stop impaired drivers from operating a vehicle after they have consumed alcohol. Impaired Drivers cause countless people to lose their lives when this is all preventable. When drivers make the decision to drive while “buzzed or impaired/intoxicated,” innocent drivers and people are at risk. The SafePark initiative is designed to help people who have consumed alcohol keep their cars parked, instead of them driving away.
Taverns in the Brown County Tavern League sign up to participate in the SafePark initiative and then train their bartenders to hand out parking “placards” to people who have consumed alcohol. The person then displays the placard in their vehicle and the person is exempt from getting a parking ticket from 3:00-5:00 AM. This placard only exempts people from the overnight parking ordinance on the streets of Green Bay as this will give people more time to make arrangements for their cars to be removed instead of driving while impaired.
The SafePark initiative is being funded by a $500 grant that was awarded by the Brown County Crime Prevention Foundation. These funds were used for the printing of the placards. More information about the foundation can be found at http://www.crimepreventionfoundation.com/
The Tavern League and the Green Bay Police Department want to stress the designated areas where people can park for free and not subject to any parking restrictions.
Sadly, in 2017 661, 2018 588 and so far in 2019 over 200 people have been arrested/charged for operating while intoxicated by the Green Bay Police Department. How many of these could have been prevented if the person was allowed to leave their car outside the bar? Though one will never know the answer, the SafePark initiative is designed to give drivers another option to leave their car parked instead of driving under the influence. Ultimately, keeping all drivers and passengers’ safe, keeping themselves safe, and preventing the horrible stories we hear nationwide.
