Alcohol License Review Committee
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The Alcohol License Review Committee (ALRC) is a City of Madison committee comprised of both elected alders and appointed citizen representatives. They make recommendations to the Madison city council about the approval of liquor licenses, special events licenses, beer gardens and, in some cases, bartending licenses.
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Structure and Responsibilities
The ALRC is composed of a mix of public and private and institutional officials. Three Madison alders serve as voting members on the committee for two year terms. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz appoints other public citizens to act as voting members for two or three-year terms.
Institutions and organizations interested in alcohol policy, including the Madison Police Department, the Associated Students of Madison and the Dane County Tavern League also have non-voting members on the committee. Although these members are not allowed to vote on issues before the ALRC, they are allowed to participate in discussion or answer questions from voting members about specific applications or concerns.
Current members
Voting members:
- Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4
- Ald. Michael Schumacher, District 18
- Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5
- Pamela Bean
- Chet Gerlach
- Thomas Landgraf
- Thomas Farley
- David Hart (Chair)
Non-voting members:
- Austin Buerrosse, ASM Student Council Designee, UW Student and former Badger Herald reporter[1]
- Barb Mercer, Dane County Tavern League President and designee
- Katherine Plominski, Alcohol Policy Coordinator
- Capt. Carl Gloede, MPD Liaison to ALRC
- Dawn Crim, UW-Madison Liaison to ALRC
- Maribeth Witzel-Behl, City Clerk Liason to ALRC
- Roger Allen, City Attorney Liason to ALRC
- Mark Woulf, Alcohol Policy Coordinator
2009 Controversy and Changes
In Fall 2009, discussion began in the downtown area over whether the city should add a student voting member to the ALRC because of the high density of both students and drinking establishments in the downtown area. The controversy hit its peak in October 2009, when both UW campus newspapers ran joint editorials calling for a boycott of The Nitty Gritty, a popular downtown bar, after comments made by owner Marsh Shapiro.[2]
In November 2009, the Common Council voted to add one more alder voting position and one more citizen voting position to the ALRC. Although the resolution did not require the additional member to be a UW student, Cieslewicz said he would appoint a student to the seat.[3]
Shortly thereafter, ASM recommended Mark Woulf, a UW senior who served as ASM's non-voting technical representative on the ALRC, as the student representative to the ALRC. Cieslewicz followed through with the recommendation and Woulf took the position in January 2010.[4] ASM replaced Woulf with UW sophomore Austin Buerosse.
In January of 2011, Woulf was appointed by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to the non-voting position of Alcohol Policy Coordinator.[5]
External Links
Notable articles
Other resources
References
- ↑ http://badgerherald.com/news/author/austin_buerosse/ Herald articles written by Austin Buerosse
- ↑ http://badgerherald.com/oped/2009/10/23/boycott_the_nitty.php BOYCOTT THE NITTY
- ↑ http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/11/03/mayor_wants_student_.php Mayor wants student voice
- ↑ http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/12/01/mayor_appoints_woulf.php Mayor appoints Woulf to ALRC
- ↑ http://badgerherald.com/news/2011/01/17/woulf_to_highlight_s.php Woulf to highlight students’ issues as city’s alcohol policy coordinator
