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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Chicago’s received its fair share. We pioneered the steel-frame skyscraper, the Ferris wheel, and the electric blues, all worldwide hits. We started studying the idea of turning the abandoned two-point-seven-mile Bloomingdale Line into an elevated park in 1998, a year before the High Line was a gleam in anybody’s eye, though it’s New York’s elevated park that’s gotten all the attention. (To be fair, New York’s park does have the advantage of actually existing.)

But other cities have some good ideas too sometimes, and every so often we should glance around and see what might be worth stealing. We’ve made a good start with the recent announcement of a 300-kiosk bike-sharing system arriving by next summer, an idea we stole from Washington, DC, along with our new transportation chief Gabe Klein. But there’s a lot more we can rip off. There are areas where we haven’t been keeping up, or we’ve been making small plans, or we just haven’t taken the lead. Some of these ideas would cost money, but some of them would make money. Some of them might be immediately popular, while others could take some convincing. Some of them won’t happen—but some of them will.

Walking around with an open container of alcohol is illegal almost everywhere in America. Even in lively areas full of nightlife and barhopping, you have to finish your drink before you leave the bar or abandon it half-full. Not so on Beale Street in downtown Memphis, the heart of the city’s main libations district. The section between Second Street and Fourth Street is exempt from the city’s and state’s open-container bans, so long as your open container isn’t made of glass. Bars will serve your booze in plastic cups, and if you feel like taking it outside it’s no more illegal than bringing a soda along with you. Establishments on the two-block section of Beale Street also get to keep serving until 5am if they want, later than the 3am limit in the rest of the city. The loose alcohol regulations have helped Beale Street boom; the area had previously been rundown and boarded up after a disastrous round of urban renewal.

Chicago already has plenty of lively entertainment districts, but allowing drinks outside and late into the night would only help bring in more tourists, more sales for bars, more tax revenue for the city, and more good times for everybody. Some might imagine increased street mayhem, but laws against violence and public intoxication will remain in force. In addition to banning open containers, Chicago law currently mandates that most bars stop serving at 2am, or 3am on Saturday nights; a “late hour” license, which is harder and more costly to get, lets them stay open two hours later. If they have a patio license, they can serve outdoors, but only until 11pm or midnight on Saturday nights—no exceptions.

Imagine relaxing these rules on Clark Street in Wrigleyville; after a game, the street would turn into a group celebration (or commiseration), full of communal Cubs love and beer. Or imagine increased drinking opportunities on North Halsted in Boystown, with its bars spilling out onto the street, or South Halsted in Pilsen, with its galleries serving up wine in plastic cups during openings and Second Fridays. Most neighborhoods wouldn’t want the increased noise and crowds, but chances are anyone living along Clark or Halsted didn’t move there for the peace and quiet. Designating one spot as the city’s drinking district could be a win for everyone.