Pandora's Box Is Leaking...

...all over Old Sixth Ward. This isn't your typical story of a changing neighborhood - while the area has always been home to a combination of residential, retail, and restaurants/bars (and its fair share of blight), current issues with the bars Pandora (1815 Washington Ave) and Drake (1902 Washington Ave) are taking it to an obnoxious and dangerous level. The management may be strict about getting in to the bars (dress, and sometimes ethnicity?), but once patrons leave anything goes.

According to Old Sixth Ward residents, this includes littering, peeing, vomiting, fighting (see video here), and drunk driving in front of their homes. Complaints to the management of Pandora resulted in a note posted on the bar's door telling patrons to not park in the adjoining neighborhood. Not only is it unenforceable, but where else is everyone going to park? There isn't adequate space in the immediate area except on Washington Ave. in the right lanes, but the road is reduced to one-lane driving each way instead of two. Add the (often drunken) pedestrian traffic, and it's not such a safe situation. It may be devolving in to the next Richmond Strip, but with less lanes and more people in the streets.

One solution for the residents could lie in permit-only parking for the neighborhood, and another would be to keep things from getting worse by fighting new bars that try to come to the area (though lack of zoning makes this extremely difficult). The obvious drawbacks would be that the ones that might contribute positively to the area could be run off, and the existing establishments that residents feel are not the source of issues (like the Corkscrew and Darkhorse Tavern) could be negatively impacted. For now, though, increased police presence and reports to local officials and the TABC may be the only hope for some positive change.

Photographs courtesy of Kathleen Vossler, video courtesy of Larissa Lindsay