Alcohol in Minnesota: Social districts, food trucks and food halls eyed by lawmakers
Minnesota is moving towards much more tolerance for alcohol and both local governments and businesses are hoping it can be an economic engine for Main Streets.
24 bills in two committees expand alcohol availability in various ways. They would allow liquor licenses for food trucks, give liquor licenses to proposed food halls in downtown Minneapolis and St. Louis Park's West End, and any city to create a social district.
Social districts are small areas where cities can allow people to carry and consume alcohol as they walk the streets. Anoka has had a lot of success with a social district pilot program over the last two summers.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Alcohol is expected to be the engine powering a lot of new economic opportunities in Minnesota.
Taking shots
Cities may be adding liquor licenses for food trucks and food halls, and they could choose to create social districts, like the one that's been so successful for Anoka.
Thursday was basically Booze Day at the Capitol.
Lawmakers heard 24 bills in two committees to expand where alcohol is sold.
And no matter where you live, it could be coming to you.
"Welcome to the world of alcohol," said Rep. Tom O'Driscoll (R-Sartell), as he chaired the House commerce committee.
Alcohol literally brought people together at the Capitol, and a lot of businesses are hoping it'll bring them prosperity.
Sip and stroll
They're asking to allow cities to shape their own social districts, or, in other words, small areas where drinking would be allowed on the streets.
"Not only would be great step towards helping recovering downtowns, but also be a great to promote community in our downtowns," said St. Cloud restaurant owner Ray Harrington.
"It's been tried other places," said Sen. Zach Duckworth (R-Lakeville). "It seems to work."
Sen. Duckworth has seen the success of Anoka's social district pilot program, so he wants it for Lakeville.
St. Paul wants one.
St. Cloud does, too.
Minneapolis is already planning one for Nicollet Mall.
Malcolm in the middle
And the state's most populous city also has more plans to add alcohol options downtown.
"This legislation would allow the city to potentially bring an interesting dining option similar to the Malcolm Yards," said Rep. Katie Jones, (DFL-Minneapolis).Her first bill as a legislator, and another from Rep. Larry Kraft, (DFL-St. Louis Park), would help the Malcolm Yards owners launch new food halls with liquor licenses at LaSalle Plaza in Minneapolis and at St. Louis Park's West End.
But expanding where alcohol can be served comes with concerns for some legislators.
"How are you going to make sure that we don't have people taking their booze and wandering off?" asked Rep. Leigh Finke, (DFL-St. Paul).Malcolm Yards owners say a wristband system and alcohol training have worked for them.
Food truck owners say they'd take similar precautions if they could get temporary liquor licenses that could help keep them in business, especially in Greater Minnesota.
"We've lost some jobs because we're not able to have the liquor to have for the groom's dinner or the wedding reception and stuff like that," said Jason Schmidt, who owns the Smokin' Brews and 'Ques food truck in Alexandria.
Another place you might see alcohol pop up is cosmetology salons.
What's next
All of these ideas passed on Thursday, but we'll have to wait for a final commerce bill to see which of them will get final approval.
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Women legislators fight for ‘potty parity'
In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. Advertisement 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. Advertisement A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. Evolving equality in statehouses There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be 'flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Advertisement Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. 'No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic' As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. Advertisement In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Advertisement Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me,' she said. 'Well, guess what? I'm here.' Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.
