Bellevue, NE Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 4-14 of the Bellevue Code of Ordinances bars drinking alcoholic liquor in the city's public parks, streets, alleys, parking areas, roads or highways, and it extends the ban to anyone drinking inside a vehicle while on those public ways. The same section reaches property owned by the State of Nebraska or any governmental subdivision within city limits. The only way around the ban is city council authorization or another law that permits the activity; in practice, the council grants that authorization through the special designated permit process in § 4-39, which lets an organizer serve alcohol at an approved public event for a set occupation-tax fee.

Bellevue has no separate open-container fine written into Chapter 4, so a § 4-14 violation falls under the Code's general penalty at § 1-11: a fine of up to $500.00, up to six months in jail, or both, at the sentencing court's discretion, with the violator subject to commitment to the city or county jail until the fine and prosecution costs are paid. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense under § 1-11(B). The Bellevue Police Department is the enforcing agency, since the ban runs through ordinary municipal court prosecution rather than the animal-control citation scheme. The ordinance traces to 1964 Code § 3-14.