Kym Vanover, a customer at The Brickyard bar on Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile, Ala., holds up an open cup of chardonnay wine on the sidewalk outside the establishment after the city's designated entertainment districts came into being Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The city's entertainment district ordinance allows patrons to purchase a 16-ounce cup of liquor from a downtown establishment and walk outside with it. They can consume the liquor as long as it's contained within the district's boundaries. (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com)

MOBILE, Alabama – The city's entertainment district, a temporary feature that allows visitors to drink alcoholic beverages in designated cups along most parts of Dauphin Street, could become permanent.

Also permanent is the three-block omission that excludes one tavern, The Haberdasher, but also contains residences and the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

Councilman Levon Manzie, who represents the area, said Tuesday that he believes the council's Economic, Cultural and Community Development Committee will recommend the full council endorse the district as a permanent fixture in downtown Mobile.

"We want to make sure we move forward with what we have and make it part of our downtown culture," Manzie said.

Manzie said that the city will "respect" the wishes of the Archdiocese of Mobile and not include the district's boundaries along Dauphin between Franklin and Cedar streets.

"I think what we have now works," Manzie said. "It's what we should move forward with."

Manzie's comments came after the committee heard from several residents who live downtown including Irvin Grodsky, who feuded for years with the now-closed Alabama Music Box.

Grodsky said his main concern is having the residential neighborhood labeled as an "entertainment district," which conjures up images of bars and nightclubs.

"It could be a place where people came to shop and live," Grodsky said. "If it's purely a bar, people won't feel safe downtown. If there is residential, they will feel safe.

Casey Ginn, who owns properties downtown and lives on St. Francis Street, said his big concern with expanding the entertainment zone is with noise.

Council members said they plan to address noise issues throughout the city in the coming weeks with a revised noise ordinance. The ordinance will consider regulations on loud bass speakers.

Carol Hunter, spokeswoman with the Downtown Mobile Alliance, said she supports the residential component along Dauphin in order to avoid having all bars and nightclubs concentrated into one area.

"There is a tipping point," Hunter said. "If you have bars and night clubs on one street, then that's all you will have. That's not where we want to go."

The entertainment district was created in March 2013 after months of debate over a variety of issues, including whether to allow the three block area within it.

The district allows people to walk on Dauphin with open containers of alcohol as long as the liquor is in a designated 16-ounce "LODA" cup or in a cup provided by a tavern.

The two districts are separated by the three-block omission.

Patrons are not legally allowed to walk with open containers on Dauphin between Franklin and Cedar, but police haven't been enforcing it.

Mobile Police Lt. Bill Rowland told the committee that police have not arrested nor cited anyone for violations within the district. He said police will instruct patrons who walk with glass containers to get rid of them.