City of Covington purchases Bottoms Up
On June 23, 2010, WCPO’s Shannon Kettler reported, “The City of Covington has purchased a bar that police and neighbors say had been a problem area for years.”
Bottoms Up, a drinks-only bar on East Fifth Street, was often the scene of fights that spilled into the street. But it is likely the police were called just as often about a man or woman passed out on the sidewalk after drinking all day at Bottoms Up. The bar opened early every day, some days as early as 6:00 AM, catering to those with unhealthy approaches to the consumption of alcohol.
Businesses, like individuals, in a neighborhood have a responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the neighborhood, not solely consume its resources. Resources are consumed when the people living in the neighborhood are taken advantage of by the businesses around them. Pay day lenders that charge exceptionally high interest rates consume individuals by creating a cycle of debt that is nearly impossible to break. Bars, like Bottoms Up, that cater to the addictions, loneliness and fears of individuals, providing only a temporary, drug-induced escape for their own gain are killing their own neighbors.
Galatians 5 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. “
Businesses are created to make money and support those who work for the business. But being part of a community also brings responsibility to that community. A business that operates in isolation from a community won’t survive, it must have customers. But business, like individuals, must be contribute back to the neighborhood and the future generations that will live there.
Related articles:
Covington’s Landscape is Changing
Club conduct in Covington impacts city’s children
