At last night's State College Borough Council meeting, the council re-enacted the ordinance authorizing the Downtown Improvement District (DID), renamed a downtown alley after the borough's unofficial "greeter" and discussed a very preliminary idea of imposing a possible "per drink tax" in the borough.

State College Mayor Bill Welch said the discussion of a possible drink tax occurred at the November 7 University Liaison meeting he attended. Welch said the meeting was a semi-annual town/gown lunch that was attended by himself, Borough Manager Tom Fountaine, Borough President Cathy Dauler and council members Tom Daubert and Craig Humphrey. Penn State President Graham Spanier also attended the meeting, along with Vicky Triponey, vice president for student affairs and Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business.

Welch said the tax would be on alcoholic drinks purchased at bars and restaurants, and this was only a very preliminary idea.

Welch said neither the borough nor the university has the authority to enact a drink tax. If it was decided that the borough wanted to enact such a tax, they would have to lobby to the state legislature, who would then have to pass a law enabling them to create the tax, he said.

Welch said the reasons for wanting to create such a tax would be to help police costs and help bring the cost of the police budget down.

The council also approved re-enacting the ordinance authorizing the DID. This was the fourth step and last step in the process of continuing the DID's contract.

The DID contract was designed to be terminated after a five-year period ending on Dec. 31.

The plan was always for the DID program to be evaluated after the initial five years and renewed if all goes well, Assistant Borough Manager Tom Kurtz said.

Re-enacting the ordinance will extend the contract of the DID for 15 years, to Dec. 31, 2021.

The Downtown Improvement District (DID) is responsible for street cleaning teams that remove debris from storefront doorways, as well as gum and dirt from sidewalks. It is also responsible for many downtown events, such as the holiday street lighting ceremony, the annual Fall Festival, Santa's workshop, the Outdoor Film Series and summer concerts.

In a joint venture with Penn State, the DID is also responsible for the LionCash program.

Kurtz said a report that council received showed that only 1.8 percent of the properties in the DID were opposed to its renewal.

The council also approved the renaming of a portion of Harley Alley "Shade Way" in honor of the borough's unofficial "greeter" Tom Shade, Jr.

Kurtz said one block of the three-block-long Harley Alley was right behind the house Shade lived in on Beaver Avenue. Harley Alley runs from Sparks Street to Patterson Street.

"He stood out on the street and waved at everyone who came down Beaver Avenue," Kurtz said. "In honor of his services as our unofficial greeter, we wanted to name a street after him."

Humphrey mentioned that perhaps a plaque should be placed near the newly named Shade Way to explain the reason for the name change.