Opinion: Editorial
Madison’s Downtown: The Musical
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
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- The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
- Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
- Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)
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We hate to sound like a broken record, but we play what we’re given. Once again the ill-conceived Alcohol License Density Plan has thrust the city into a Prohibition-era musical farce, and this time the theme is “Catch-22.” Center stage we have the allegorically named Madison’s Downtown, trying to do the chips-and-salsa, but the businessman is shouted down by the Chorus, Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc.: “A bar you are and all you shall be/ Never may you up your capacity.”
The plot is unbelievable, even by the standards of farce. When Madison’s Downtown, 119 N. King St., inherited a clothing store years ago, it also inherited the building’s 216-person maximum capacity. But when the fire department re-examined the site several months ago, they raised the figure to 340. Madison’s Downtown co-owner Lynn Haker said the bar wants to capitalize on this by encouraging patrons currently forced to wait outside for a table to come inside for a drink or appetizer.
Like any good mustache-twirling villain, however, CNI doesn’t let common sense get in the way of a “gotcha” moment. When Madison’s Downtown submitted Monday their request to CNI — which has increasingly tried to supplant the City Council as Madison’s high court on all things alcohol-related — the density plan was once again trotted out as a one-size-fits-all decree: If less than 50 percent of your sales are from food, you can’t increase your customers. Never mind if you need to increase your customers to sell more food.
As Mr. Haker put it, “There is not a magic switch that you flip to go from 10 to 60 percent overnight.” The bar has increased food sales to 35 percent already, and given Madison’s Downtown’s distance from campus and co-owner Andy Haker’s assertion, “We don’t want to pack them in like college kids do,” it hardly seems plausible that letting another hundred-odd folks in during busy days would increase crime or public drunkenness.
The final act of this production has yet to begin, as Madison’s Downtown will make their case to the City Council May 6, but Alder Mike Verveer, Dist. 4, may have given the ending away, if it was ever in doubt. At the Capitol Neighborhoods meeting, Mr. Verveer acknowledged the “dilemma” without offering a solution, simply repeating the sad refrain, “You have to be a restaurant. And you do not meet the definition of a restaurant today.”
And so, “Madison’s Downtown: The Musical” looks to take a turn from comedy to tragedy. Let’s hope the city starts singing a different tune soon.
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“When Madison’s Downtown submitted Monday their request to CNI — which has increasingly tried to supplant the City Council as Madison’s high court on all things alcohol-related…”
I am on CNI, we did not meet Monday. We met last Tuesday and while Police Captain Mary Schauff did mention the request for increased capacity, there was no further discussion on the topic, much less a resolution.
I know one question is that if the increased capacity is for eating, there is a question of where will the tables go. If adding capacity for standing-room only, it is unlikely that Madison’s will acheive their goal of increasing food revenue.
There are many of us on CNI who listen to thoughtful opinions, and many of us who, if asked, might support a number of increased capacities if it made sense.
But regardless, we were not asked at our meeting, and did not meet Monday night. We are not the villans, and I will leave it up to you to clarify who, if anyone, is.
Respectfully, Melissa Berger