(EAST DUBUQUE)–Going across the river for a drink isn’t going to be quite as easy as it used to be. May 1st, a ordinance came in effect for East Dubuque bars, forcing them to shut their doors at 3 in the morning. For years, it has been a tradition for adults to come from Dubuque to East Dubuque to have a taste of the night life. But, now that the bars are closing early, owners such as Patrick Donovan, of The Other Side, are worried that his customers will have no place to go if bars in East Dubuque begin closing.

Patrick Donovan's bar The Other Side

Donovan States, “There is going to be after house parties spread out throughout the city, so know they think that by reducing our time they are actually going to be able to cut down on law enforcement, in the city, when its probably actually going to cause a bigger problem.”

The city of East Dubuque made this decision in order to promote East Dubuque as a family-oriented community. This is one of many ordinances that Dubuque bar owners have had to deal with in the past couple of years.

Donovan says, “The city came to the bars owners, and asked them to improve the appearance of their buildings, all the bar owners went ahead and did that, like I said it came out of their pockets, and they fixed the buildings up at the city request, then of course the city came and they say well you know you got the smoking ban coming now so we had to deal with that, that again put the financial strain on all the businesses around here, then they came to a few of the business owners, the gentlemen’s club’s had to be shut down they were no longer allowed in town, another hurtle that we have overcome. But now, the city is giving us something we cannot deal without…they’re taking away our time.”

Although bars have been impacted by these changes, Patrick Donavan is worried that he may ultimately loose his business because of the ordnance.

Dovovan claims, “They’ll basically run us out of business, considering 80% of our earnings come from 1:30am till 3:30 in the morning right now.”

In the next few months, bar owners will be faced with the many challenges of closing an hour earlier.