[Noisebridge-discuss] Party anyone?

[Andy Isaacson]

On Wed, Aug 05, 2009 at 03:44:58PM -0700, Christie Dudley wrote:
> Another thing we need to consider and discuss.  I understand Seth was
> mentioning last night that he'd like to see "all ages" events as often
> as it's reasonable.  The issue arises that the majority of the money
> that's made at these sorts of things is at the bar.  Ideally, we'd
> have events that are as wide open as possible.  I'll be looking into
> what it would take to keep this open while still selling liquor.

I don't want to put words into Seth's mouth, but here's my take on the
issue.

Seth raised the very reasonable point that many of us got into hacking
before we reached the age of majority, and we all remember feeling
excluded by events that had an age limit.  (That certainly resonated
with me.)

Last night, Seth seemed to feel very strongly that Noisebridge should
not have or sponsor events with age restrictions.

It is not possible (AFAIK the california alcohol code, which is not
100%) for a bar with a Place of Entertainment permit to allow minors
into their space.  The rules are different for
 - private parties with a one-day license
 - restaurants with a beer+wine license
 - bars with a liquor license

I believe the first two can allow minors and the third cannot, but
IANAL and I don't even play one on TV.

These rules are not fair.  They are not right.  They are not sane.  They
are not even legislation -- just administrative rulings.  But we cannot
fight them, we must work within them (or choose to avoid activities
governed by them).  So please don't talk to me about fairness or sanity,
but please *do* talk to me about the practicalities of having events
that will not get us in trouble and also allow us to express our
creative outlets.

-andy