NEWS
Drinking ban makes impact
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Also by Cristina Daglas:
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- PACE expected to claim weekend drink-special ban as success (May 7, 2003)
- PACE study: Ban on weekend drink specials correlates with rise in crime (March 11, 2004)
- PACE still thinks it's effective (September 10, 2003)
- PACE examines effects of drink special ban (December 3, 2003)
- PACE director looks to the future (March 4, 2004)
by Cristina Daglas
Thursday, May 8, 2003
The Policy, Alternative, Community and Education Project officially announced the results of its study regarding the voluntary drink-special ban on weekend nights this past semester in 25 downtown Madison bars. According to PACE, the ban resulted in a 35 percent decrease in incidents of disorderly conduct on Friday nights.
Violations also decreased Saturday nights; however, the percent decrease was not nearly as significant as Friday.
The PACE study shows that cheap drinks sold through drink specials cause over-consumption, which can result in serious problems such as violence, vandalism and sexual assault. PACE members are also in belief that this change can be strongly beneficial to downtown in making the environment safer.
PACE members are now looking to maintain this drink ban and hopefully get more bars to participate in it.
Enforcement data for the study was collected from the Madison Police Department and the UW Police Department from Oct. 1 to March 31.
PACE director Susan Crowley said that it is unclear why significant declines did not appear on Saturday nights, noting that data may show that people drink for different reasons on Friday and Saturday nights.
Downtown establishments that refrained from the offering of weekend drink specials during this period are Amy’s Café, Angelic, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bull Feathers, Brothers, City, Club Amazon, Irish Pub, Kollege Klub, Mad Dogs, Madhatters, Nitty Gritty, Plaza, State Bar, State Street Brats, Stillwaters, Vintage Spirits, Wando’s, Spices, Paul’s Club, Lava Lounge, Red Shed, The Pub and Mondays.
