NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — One of the many new rules in place during COVID-19 to help struggling neighborhood businesses curbside pickup and delivery of alcohol along with food orders in Nashville.
The Metro Nashville Beer Board is hoping to make it a permanent change by creating the ability to apply for a permit in Nashville. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to extend delivery and curbside abilities until Nov. 30.
But a local victim of a drunk driver says it may be worth pumping the brakes on the idea.
Phaedra Marriott-Olsen is part of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. In 1996, she was driving home from a concert with friends, when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit her car head-on. She was left paralyzed.
What bothers Marriott-Olsen isn't so much the idea of permanent curbside to-go alcohol itself, as the timing of it.
Tennessee's Alcoholic Beverage Commission routinely performs undercover checks to see if servers will sell alcohol to minors. After the COVID-19 restrictions began allowing curbside alcohol sales, the commission checked 177 establishments -- and 69 of them sold alcohol to minors -- a failure rate of 31%.
Marriot-Olsen says personally, she wants to see better compliance rates before adopting curbside alcohol sales for good.
"As a victim, I can tell you I would feel more comfortable with these laws becoming permanent once we had good compliance and policies available."
