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Seizing the high ground, the mayor said he did not break the law lightly, but in this case, his act was required by "the cause of freedom." In a letter to Anthony V. Gazzara, chairman of the SLA, Koch vowed he would go on breaking the law, adding that "the question then will be whether you shall arrest the restaurateur or me."
New York is hardly alone in its bottle dilemma. Other jurisdictions, including California and the District of Columbia, technically forbid brown bagging but allow it in practice. (Some states, such as Illinois and Massachusetts, have no laws prohibiting customers from bringing alcoholic beverages into restaurants.) To straighten out the New York mess, legislative wheels are now in motion for passage of an amendment allowing brown bagging with the consent of restaurant owners. Officials at the SLA are taking the position that they were only doing their job. "We're dutybound to go after [violations]," said one spokesman. "If people don't like the law, let them change it."