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OPINION & EDITORIAL

Let them drink beer

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by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Last fall, at the behest of the most vocal members of Madison’s “adult” population, the Madison City Council passed a resolution banning any new bars in the downtown area.

While the safety issues stemming from alcohol abuse are undoubtedly a legitimate cause for concern, we have long contended the Alcohol Density Plan will actually be counterproductive toward meeting that end. Of course, those arguments fell on deaf ears. Our belief has always been that the primary motivation behind this anti-business, anti-competition piece of legislation was the prudish, Prohibition-era lens through which some city residents view Madison’s student population.

Unfortunately, anyone who thought the Alcohol Density Plan would tide over the anti-alcohol moralists of our fine city could not have been more wrong. Last Thursday, Madison’s Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. — a neighborhood association of activist downtown residents who rally around increasing their “quality of life” quotient — held a public meeting detailing a number of benchmarks they want to see Madison reach by next January.

CNI’s Alcohol Issues Committee would like our local government authorities to:

-    Establish an “alcohol court” to enhance prosecution of underage drinking laws and “widely publicize” its purpose and proceedings

-    Double the number of individuals cited and subsequently penalized by the Madison Police Department and the University of Wisconsin Police Department for underage drinking

-    Increase downtown prices of alcohol by at least 20 percent in areas with the highest density of alcohol-related crime and violence

-    Force 50 percent of all downtown establishments — in addition to all UW facilities with permanent alcohol licenses — to use electronic scanners for patrons after 10 p.m.

-    “Vigorously support” efforts to increase statewide alcohol taxes and licensing fees

-    Decrease total late night downtown alcohol service capacity by at least 5 percent

Frankly, we can find little in their Jan. 20 policy draft worthy of support, and the above excerpts are just some of the more troublesome recommendations. While it is worth noting that these are only “recommendations,” we would be remiss not to mention that what CNI wants matters; they hold significant sway with some of our local politicians. They were, after all, some of the most fervent proponents of the aforementioned Alcohol Density Plan.

The problem with some of these policy suggestions is that they do not adequately respect the freedom of thousands of law-abiding UW students or the dozens of responsible bar owners in the downtown area. Even those most righteously targeted — those consumers of alcohol who are 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old adults — do not deserve the condescending ire and bloodthirstiness of their elder peers. To be sure, we applaud virtually any incident in which an officer of the law uses discretion and chooses not to cite an underage adult drinker for committing an act that affects only him or herself; if CNI had its way, these people would seemingly be held up on the Capitol lawn and branded with a scarlet “A” for “alcoholic.” After all, in their policy paper, CNI bemoans the fact that most individuals who break alcohol laws have “little or no fear of legal or disciplinary sanctions.” Clearly, the answer is to make the police more frightening.

Instead of catering to CNI’s infatuation with what their neighbors are doing, we hope the City Council and UW just turn a cold shoulder. As one CNI member who shares our dismay with these policies pointed out, the only thing that has changed is the influx of more families and older adults downtown. In other words, the college-scene drinking culture is basically the same; there are just more people around to be offended by it now.

Our own belief is that the proliferation of responsible bar owners and responsible drinkers in the downtown area is

not a bad thing, but a good thing. That scene is part of what makes Madison what it is, and part of what attracts a lot of people to live, work and study here. Concerns over safety, vandalism and disturbances of the peace are fair ones, and we would stand by CNI in asking for better police enforcement of those kinds of threats. But, alas, it’s not the results but the underlying cause that seems to bother them. And if that’s the case, common ground will continue to be hard to come by.


Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 4:21am):

"The problem with some of these policy suggestions is that they do not adequately respect the freedom of thousands of law-abiding UW students or the dozens of responsible bar owners in the downtown area."

This is childish. Madison has a clear problem with alcohol consumption and its clear the CNI does not want to target the law-abiding students. Their proposals are clear; they want to limit the ones who are not abiding the law. And while this article seems to brush off the phenomena of 18-20 year olds illegally entering bars by labelling those that try to stop them as "condescending," the fact of the matter is that they ARE breaking the law.
The foolishness of this article is incredible. It is just another attack of the "system," claiming some sort of "conspiracy" where these adults are trying to "bring us down." Grow up please. The CNI is simply trying to stop two types of illegal activities: Underage drinking, and violent, drunken behavior. They are also trying to do this without affecting those "law-abiding students." It boggles my mind how someone of your age can, in what is supposed to be an intelligent forum, believe that cracking down on law breakers who use fake ID's and limiting the availability of alcohol in areas known for high alcohol related incidents is somehow a display of "grown-ups trying to bring us down."

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 10:27am):

To 4:21am: If you are so mature, make yourself known on the Badger Herald comment board. I am a student member of the CNI and cannot believe the stupidity of your recommendations ... dumbasses.

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 10:32am):

No 4:21, this doesn't just target troublemakers or lawbreakers. They want to increase the price of drinks through taxes and coercion. They want fewer bars, and the remaining bars to close earlier. They want bar and liquor store owners and employees to jump through more hoops and risk even more than they do now.

They want to fundamentally change the culture in Madison and will pull any strings necessary to do this. They have taken a MADD-style hardline approach and have no problems telling you how to live your life.

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 10:46am):

"That scene is part of what makes Madison what it is, and part of what attracts a lot of people to live, work and study here."

That is the single stupidest thing I've ever read in this paper. Do you think that the constant late night screaming attracts people? The vomit stains on the sidewalks? The property damage and litter? The children staggering out into traffic? The fights? The lame frat bars? What is it about "the scene" that you think appeals to someone who is not an alcoholic and is over the age of 19?

Madison will always be a cow town because no adult in their right mind is ever going to voluntarily move to a drunken daycare center.

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 12:45pm):

"The CNI is simply trying to stop two types of illegal activities: Underage drinking, and violent, drunken behavior."

Nobody can argue against stopping violent, drunken behavior. The problem is that by putting so much focus on stopping underage drinking, police take resources away from stopping the violent behavior. You can do both only by hiring more police, which costs money. That's why methods focused on reducing crime rather than reducing underage drinking are more appropriate.

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 1:25pm):

IT IS A COLLEGE CAMPUS!!! What do you expect, go to any other UW/Big Ten school and you will see the same thing. The CNI came to live near the Campus the Campus did not come to them, it is just like the people who have recently moved into the Camp Randal neighborhood who complaign about the noise coming from the stadium during games. Either get used to what you moved into or move out.

Anonymous (January 29, 2008 @ 9:49pm):

What good would increasing the price of alcohol do other than piss people off? This is well-said. CNI needs to drop the Puritan attitude and realize that college students will ALWAYS find a way to drink underage. Regardless of how many restrictions you slap on them, it will continue you to happen. When will these idiots finally get the right idea -- to work with the students and respect them? Nothing will change unless we find some sort of common ground, and making consuming alcohol a pain in the ass -- for responsible and irresponsible drinkers alike --is not a solution. While we're at it, why not raise the drinking age to 25?

Anonymous (January 30, 2008 @ 1:16am):

Here's an idea - instead of making the law-abiding overage downtown bar patrons (such as myself) foot the bill, how about just raising the fines? After all, I'm not the one the CNI has a beef with. The 18-year-old 4:am sidewalk scream-pissers are. Make the irresponsible ones pay.

Anonymous (February 4, 2008 @ 4:06pm):

The easiest way to curb underage drinking would to maintain a constant, unyielding police presence on notorious streets so that all house parties are broken up. More underage persons go to house parties than the bars, so CNI should really have an issue with MPM, JSM, and other landlords, not the bars.
As 1:16am stated, raising the fines regarding underage drinking would be a much more tasteful approach than broadly attempting to make drinking too expensive by increasing taxes.
Makes me wish the federal government had the balls to say 'No' to MADD and had never forced its hands into State's Rights.

Anonymous (February 4, 2008 @ 4:06pm):

Ron Paul would let us lower our drinking age back to 18, where it belongs.

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