NEWS
Opposition to Jarrell emerges
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by Michelle Orris
Monday, December 2, 2002
The City Council already has competition for one of its 20 seats up for grabs in next spring’s elections.
Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8, currently represents a large portion of Madison’s student population, including part of State Street. Although the Council elections do not begin until February, Jarrell has already been challenged by Jeff Erlanger, a member of Madison’s Commission on People with Disabilities.
Erlanger said he is stepping into the race because of Jarrell’s ineffective approach to student issues like drink specials, the smoking ban and tenants’ rights.
He said the Council unfairly blames bars for a binge-drinking problem.
“The drink-special problem is not actually a problem; it’s poor cause-and-effect analysis,” Erlanger said, explaining that students who drink in bars are safer than those binge-drinking at house parties. However, he said binge-drinking is a problem in Madison and suggested alternative ways to deter students from house parties.
“Maybe we could make kegs more expensive,” he said.
Jarrell said he could not take responsibility for the Council’s sentiments because he has always been at the forefront of the movement against drink specials.
Erlanger said he also disapproves of the smoking ban in its current form because it will drive restaurants to become bars in order to maintain their current revenue from smoking patrons.
“Places like the Nitty Gritty and State Street Brats will have to decide between becoming a bar or a restaurant and will naturally choose to become a bar,” Erlanger said.
He said he is worried under-agers will have fewer late-night options as a result.
Jarrell said he disagrees that restaurants will become bars and said in September he supported the ban because smoking in restaurants is a public-health concern.
The current smoking ban mandates restaurants with alcohol sales that comprise 50 percent or less of their total revenue must become smoke-free by 2003.
Erlanger said there are many better compromises the city could have reached.
“Starting at 7 p.m., alcohol revenue starts going up substantially,” Erlanger said. “So they ban smoking all day until 9 or 10 p.m. and after that treat a restaurant like State Street Brats as a bar and allow smoking.”
Erlanger criticized Jarrell’s “overblown” emphasis on tenants’ rights.
“Todd and his political party focus on tenants’ rights because they can’t figure out what else to focus on,” Erlanger said. “There are definitely enough rules in place the city can enforce if landlords are not doing their job. People need to know what their rights are, but they also have to know what their responsibilities are.”
In response, Jarrell said the ordinance he created includes both the rights and responsibilities of tenants in lease agreements.
“With over 99 percent tenants in my district, I don’t see how this issue could be overemphasized,” Jarrell said. “I’ve done a lot of work in the last few years. I don’t think he’s as qualified as I am.”
Erlanger said he is a better candidate because he has spent 12 years living in the district, which increases his knowledge and understanding of city issues.
