Hempstead, NY Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Chapter 77 applies only to the unincorporated areas of the Town of Hempstead, since § 77-1 defines "town" for this chapter as "the unincorporated areas of the Town of Hempstead" and defines "public place" to include any public highway, street, alley, sidewalk, public parking lot, park, playground, public building or transportation facility. Within that territory, § 77-2A makes it an offense to "consume any alcoholic beverage in any public place," and § 77-2B separately bans having "in his possession an open or unsealed container of an alcoholic beverage while in any public place for the purpose of consuming such alcoholic beverage." The Town does not have to prove intent directly: § 77-4 creates a rebuttable presumption that anyone holding an open or unsealed container in a public place intends to consume its contents.

The ban has built-in exceptions at § 77-3: it does not apply where consumption is authorized by a state or Town license or permit, or at "a gathering or function for which permission has been previously granted by the appropriate governing body, board, agency or commission," which covers permitted Town events and licensed premises with outdoor service. Chapter 77 was amended in 2020 by L.L. No. 40-2020 to add a companion ban on smoking within 25 feet of anyone present in a park or playground under § 77-2C, showing the chapter now regulates more than alcohol in the same public spaces.