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Keep downtown on tap

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by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The recent resolution by the Alcohol License Review Committee intending to limit the number of downtown bars is one we vehemently oppose. This resolution, referred to as the Alcohol License Density Plan, has little justification, and may, in fact, cause additional drinking-related problems in Madison, as well as stagnate the growth of our downtown economy.

The plan's supporters hope that by disallowing liquor licenses for new bars in downtown Madison between Blair and Lake Streets, fewer police officers will be required to monitor unruly bar time behavior. It has also been argued that the abundance of bars only intensifies the recent crime surge, providing criminals with a ready supply of drunk victims walking home.

These reasons, however, are poor rationale for a plan that will impact the makeup of downtown. There is no proven causal relationship between violence and the number of bars that exist, nor is there any reason to believe that fewer police officers would be needed if no additional bars are constructed.

Furthermore, with this resolution affecting only the downtown area, more bars may spring up in outlying areas. If students should feel so inclined to travel elsewhere for their drink cravings, the problem of transportation arises, and drunken driving enters the picture. So, whereas the plan's initial intention was to protect students, its implementation may do otherwise.

Perhaps most important, though, is the free market principle. It is not the city's job to determine how many bars should exist downtown, but rather the citizens themselves to demand, and then enjoy, the types of establishments they want. If the theory of supply and demand is entertained, new bars will eventually fail as downtown becomes flooded with watering holes, making this resolution both unnecessary and obsolete. New bars would feed the economy a tremendous amount of revenue, something that the city will surely miss.

The city should let the residents of Madison decide when enough is enough, and until then, welcome incoming businesses with open arms.

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Anonymous (September 26, 2006 @ 12:16pm):

Well-argued, well-backed and well-stated.

One problem: When you start throwing around complex economic jargon like "supply and demand," you shoot several grade levels over the heads of certain alders, like a certain business-loathing Trotskyite from the 2nd district...

-Victor Blake Marx

Anonymous (September 26, 2006 @ 2:57pm):

Ditto Victor.

Anonymous (September 26, 2006 @ 8:45pm):

Why is it always the bars that take the heat for drunks? House parties supply far more booze, and in a much less controlled way. Crack down on assholish behavior, not legally operating bars.

Anonymous (September 27, 2006 @ 8:59am):

Victor, are you really going to accuse liberals of hating bars? I think if there is anything madison students can agree on it's getting hammered on the weekend. To my knowledge most bars aren't republican rallies. If anything it's the puritanical PACE and their obsession with turning us into Bob Jones University that is the root of all of this.

Anonymous (September 27, 2006 @ 5:30pm):

Oh Victor,

You're clearly uninformed. The people defending bars and drinking are the downtown lefties, and the people trying to ban drink specials, new bars, and kegs, are the conservatives from the outskirts like Grandpa Skidmore. I'm sure you hate Brenda Konkel, Austin King, and Robbie Webber, but you have to admit that they're the only ones that stick up for students and libations against the conservative boonies from west Madison.