Rocky wants liquor allowed

SYDNEY — Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has been in Sydney just four days but already the fun-loving hospitality of Australians is obvious to him.

And it's key to a successful Olympics, he said.

"Crucial to a successful Games," Anderson said, "is making certain people have a lot of choices in terms of having a good time. People come to the Olympics not just for the sports. They expect to have a very good time."

And to make that easy for visitors, in part, means changing Utah's liquor laws, Anderson said.

"I think our liquor laws are arcane and far too complicated," he said.

Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee is sticking to its long-standing policy of not asking for any changes in the state's liquor laws for the Games.

"We're not going to to ask for any change in the law, and we intend to follow them as they exist," Mitt Romney said again here in Sydney.

And, the SLOC president said, said organizers will not sell alcohol at the medals plaza, which is planned for the block just east of the Triad Center.

"Because the medals plaza is a place where we are inviting families to come, we do not want to serve or advertise alcoholic beverages," Romney said.

Anderson said not changing Utah's liquor laws would be a mistake.

"I hope that policymakers on a state level will rethink that. We're not being hospitable when we cause our visitors to be so hassled in order to have a drink."

Along the lines of being a good host, the mayor said the city is working with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee to coordinate entertainment and activities for visitors during the 2002 Winter Games outside of the Olympic venues.

Sydney has a half dozen "Live Sites" scattered around the city where people can gather to watch the Games on a large, outdoor screen. The hugely popular sites also have free entertainment, plus food and merchandise booths.

Since arriving in Sydney on Monday with his 18-year-old son, Lucas, the mayor has been filling a hectic schedule. Pulling it out of his jacket pocket and looking it over, Anderson said, "It's horrendous."

He did an interview with CNN Thursday morning and squeezed in another interview with a newspaper reporter Thursday afternoon while walking from one appointment to another at Olympic Park.

Already the mayor has seen equestrian jumping and gymnastics and a ballet at the Sydney Opera House, as well as diving and track and field Thursday at Olympic Park.

Tuesday he hosted a party for the 500-day countdown to the 2002 Winter Games. Between now and Monday, when he and Lucas are scheduled to leave, they are to take a cruise of Sydney Harbor and attend the men's soccer and basketball finals.

The mayor is also having meetings with government leaders, including the mayor of Athens, which is hosting the 2004 Summer Games, and the lord mayor of Sydney.

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