sMoRTy71.com: Fourth Street Live dress code

Fourth Street Live dress code
OK, I know I said that I wouldn't get political in this blog, but this really irks me so I am making an exception.

It turns out that the new Fourth Street Live entertainment district in Downtown Louisville has a dress code that seems to be intended to filter out certain groups of people. In a nutshell, the code says that women can wear anything that they want as long as there is no "indecent exposure". Men, on the other hand, cannot wear tank tops, sleeveless shirts or (get this) sports jerseys. In addition, men are not allowed to wear a baseball cap backwards.

No jerseys and no baseball caps backwards, huh? Who are they trying to keep out? Hmm.

Kimberly Goodwin, a spokesperson for the management company, hints at what it might be. "It's just, you know, when you go out at night to a first-class enviornment -- it's certainly not a race issue -- it's just not appropriate attire when you have a night out on the town."

According to the article from WAVE 3, the dress code is enforced Wednesday through Saturday nights. The Mayor's office says because Fourth Street Live has an arena liquor license, the blocked off area basically becomes private on those nights, and they aren't sure anything can be done.

I've got no problem if a private business wants to have a dress code. I do have a problem when they try to enforce a dress code (which appears to be racially motivated) on a public street in an area that was built with taxpayer money. Councilman Dan Johnson believes the dress code is a good idea. "I think they should have strict, strict dress codes there," he said, because "they don't want a certain element of people doing things there." I wonder who that "certain element" is?

The whole idea of building Fourth Street Live was to try and revitalize the downtown area during non-work hours. This dress code seems to just add more division and confusion among residents.