It could be a double-edged sword.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s decision Monday to establish a leisure and recreation district along Washington Street from the Klondyke to Veto Street, including the Vicksburg Convention Center and the Mississippi Hardware building on Mulberry Street, is a bold move to improve business downtown and increase tourism.

What this ordinance does basically is from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday allow people to either sit outside a restaurant and have an alcoholic beverage, or leave a restaurant or club with a drink in their hand in a specially marked “go cup” and go someplace else inside the district.

It is seen as a mechanism to bring people downtown and patronize the restaurants and increase the overall interest in the downtown district that will encourage people to eventually come and shop the district’s stores while they’re in the area.

But perhaps the biggest question mark is the human element, and how people act in the district could kill it.

A private security guard will police the rules of the district, but in the end, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen is relying on the people enjoying the beverages to police themselves, and that is a dangerous thing.

A human being is a fickle animal, known to not listen to reason and not use common sense; to overdo and become belligerent when told to stop doing something, especially when under the influence of intoxicating beverages.

And the board will have to keep a very close eye on the activity downtown during the hours the open container privilege is in effect. That means looking at the ordinance’s long-term effect on the city’s downtown retail district and the image the district will present to the visitors coming to our town from the riverboats.

The city’s leisure and recreation district can be a boon to the city if handled right, or it can be a disaster of the first degree

“This is not about people to just randomly walk up and down the street with liquor,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said. “Remember, the end result comes back to us, because we have to put our signature on this.”

And it will be the board’s responsibility to pull the district if it fails — and immediately.