After a tense spring and summer dominated by back-and-forth debate on drink specials at downtown Madison bars, Madison officials expect the City Council to resume discussion of the issue this fall.
Drink specials, including two-for-one deals, “flip nights” and any other reduced alcohol prices, would be endangered should the council approve drink-special regulation.
The Alcohol License and Review Committee appointed a subcommittee to investigate the issue last spring. The committee came out with a report in March recommending a reduction, if not a total ban, on drink specials in the UW-Madison campus area.
In line with the university’s campaign to reduce binge-drinking among students, UW chancellor John Wiley endorsed the subcommittee?s findings.
“The subcommittee has concluded that the regulation of drink specials should be contemplated,” the report reads.
Even after collectively deciding to delay any decision on the subcommittee’s recommendations until students returned for the fall semester, several liquor licenses were granted during the summer months that included restrictions on drink specials.
Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, believes the ALRC, by granting the licenses over the summer, is attempting to implement the new legislation piece by piece rather than in one sweeping initiative encompassing all alcohol establishments in the city of Madison.
The ALRC is “sneaking [regulation] in the back door,” Powell said.
In addition to the assertion that students were intentionally omitted from the decision-making process, he feels businesses forbidden from implementing drink specials will face a significant disadvantage by having to compete with many bars that already have reduced-price drink specials.
“These bars are being set up for failure,” Powell said.
Furthermore, Powell said the ALRC is failing to take into consideration the legislation’s possible impact on the safety of students.
“Most sexual assaults and fights associated with the consumption of alcohol occur in private residences,” he said.
Powell suggested more students would drink at house parties if drink specials disappeared.
“At bars, there are people who know how to deal with the problem,” Powell said, referring to owners, bouncers and nearby police. “It?s an awkward way of attempting to solve the problem [of binge-drinking]. It hurts students who only have limited money to spend at the bars. It’s harmful to bars and students alike.”
ALRC chair, Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, disagrees, claiming that both bars and students would benefit from more responsible drinking behavior.
“I would encourage students to look at the bigger picture,” Bruer said.
An advocate of a lower drinking age, Bruer said he believes a more responsible student body would have increased leverage of affecting alcohol policies at both local and state levels.
Powell is among a group of council members who oppose the drink-special ban, including Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8 and Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
Verveer points out that the ALRC has a close ally in Bascom Hall, as Chancellor Wiley is one of the biggest sources of encouragement in the attempt to curb binge-drinking.
In the past, Wiley’s support for licenses has been conditional on whether or not it agrees to exclude drink specials.
