First it was the smoking ban that forced bar owners to scramble and make way for outdoor smoking areas. Extended patio areas and smoking doors became staples in downtown bars, all efforts of bar owners trying not to ostracize patrons as a result of the recent ban. Despite the success of smoking bans in other cities like New York, Madison's ban — according to bar owners — has proven extremely detrimental to downtown business.
It is a mystery why we would want to place yet another burden on local businesses on the one weekend when much of their revenue loss could potentially be recovered. Nevertheless, bar owners are now being faced with another potential blow to business: Halloween 2005.
Avid readers of the local papers know that the debate over Halloween has become one that could easily compete with last semester's Mifflin Block Party debate. The Halloween issue, though, is not about what date the partying should and will occur, but rather the time at which all hell will inevitably break loose at the end of the night. Local officials who seem to think they have all the answers are arguing for bars to close an hour earlier, instead of taking advantage of daylight-saving time and staying open an hour later. The Editorial Board of this paper recently argued the exact opposite: Madison laws should be amended to allow bars to stay open all night on Halloween, in hopes of preventing "inebriated revelers leaving the bars en masse at bar time."
Everyone needs to take a step back and consider the one common denominator in both of these arguments: the chaos on Halloween is not solely caused by the time bars close or the influx of visitors to Madison, but the abundance of alcohol itself. Many of you may be shifting in your seats right now, anticipating that I will propose abolishing all alcohol for the duration of Halloween. Let's not jump to conclusions. The abolition of alcohol is something that I am certain will never happen in Madison, as well as something I would never want to happen. Regardless of the time bars close on Halloween, people will inevitably drink too much and will get too rowdy. So it should be clear that neither of the proposals will make much difference come Halloween.
Let us consider the two proposed scenarios, and once and for all see how neither will make much of a difference come Halloween. In the instance of all bars in Madison closing one hour earlier, it is obvious this will only result in the riots occurring an hour earlier.
As to the Editorial Board's idea of keeping the bars open all night: riots are usually caused by a few out-of-control drinkers who are then encouraged by anyone who happens to be nearby at the time. Chaos ensues. With this plan, though, officials will not be able to ballpark the approximate time of the outbreak of chaos, but will have to prepare for multiple incidents occurring throughout the night as partiers stumble out of downtown bars at (please pardon the expression) staggered hours.
Instead of placing more mandates on bar owners and insisting they close at a particular time this Halloween, we should let the bar owners make the decision themselves. It is their property, in the end, that will end up being damaged. The bills that will have to be paid at the end of the month are theirs. It is their bar, and it should be their choice. By ignoring the voice of the bar owners, soon enough they will be the ones rioting and not the usual suspects.
Emily Friedman ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and legal studies.
