The fall 2002 semester marked a period of change for downtown bars and restaurants. City government successfully passed legislation to ban smoking by 2006 in venues defined as restaurants.

In response to city pressure to curb binge-drinking, a coalition of bars voluntarily banned drink specials on weekend nights.

Student reaction to these bans is mixed but generally resistant to the measures.

University of Wisconsin junior Shalon Holbeck said the government is stepping out of its boundaries in trying to manipulate students’ personal lifestyle choices.

Ald. Steve Holtzman, District 19, said in September that studies show police calls downtown are mainly due to alcohol, leading to the effort to ban drink specials.

“The city is devoting far too many police resources to the downtown area,” Holtzman said. “That’s because Madison police have to baby-sit the party-hearty crowd of UW students.”

UW junior Trevor Haagen disagreed, saying drinking and smoking are not problems that need to be solved, and the city should not try to baby-sit the college community.

Other students, such as Tim Sherman, felt the smoking ban is a legitimate issue for the government to confront.

“F*ck smoking — people’s health is more important,” Sherman said in September.

So what’s next?

The smoking ban will take effect in 2005 for restaurants with under 33 percent alcohol sales and in 2006 for restaurants with under 50 percent alcohol sales.

According to State Street Brats manager Ross Johnson, the voluntary drink-special ban in some bars will most likely end by next fall.

Johnson said the events of the semester have showcased that drink specials are not the cause of binge-drinking disruptions.

“Look at Halloween. Thursday night the dastardly drink specials were out, and entire families were out safely past 11:30,” Johnson said. “Then the weekend came. The university and the city went after the wrong people.”

Sudi Ceglarek, Promoting Policy Alternatives Community Education project coordinator, said it is too early to discern the effect of the ban. The PACE project works with UW to change the binge-drinking culture and environment.

“At the end of this testing period, we will see police data, our own college alcohol data and detox surveys,” Ceglarek said. “The temporary ban is a step in the right direction.”