A bid to bring back a controversial anti-loitering ordinance abandoned four years ago now seems unlikely, as key sponsor Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, backed out of his leadership role Wednesday.

City Council President Austin King said the "very racist" ordinance passed through the council in 1997 and stayed in effect until 2002, when it was vetoed by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. King added the non-profit organization the Common Sense Coalition recently proposed to Bruer to bring the ordinance back

King also said until recently, 11 alders agreed the ordinance should return to City Council. Yet the ordinance never had enough votes to override the mayor's veto, he added, arguing several of the alders who signed onto the proposal did so because of a misunderstanding.

"A lot of people didn't know what they were signing onto and said [the anti-loitering ordinance] was a good idea," King said. "The mayor is against it, and everyone knows it didn't even work … in the years it was in effect. You would think the majority of the council wouldn't want to bring back a horrible ordinance like that."

The ordinance was originally put in place to stop drug dealing on the streets of Madison, King said. Yet he added that when the council looked at the progress of the plan in 2000, police reported 89 percent of people who received tickets were black.

King also said because of this, the ordinance faced a huge uprising in the community.

But Common Sense Coalition Executive Director Michael Quigley said now the proposal is unlikely to pass because of the lack of support and leadership from Bruer. Quigley added the ordinance would have been a vehicle to stop drug dealing, robberies and muggings across the city.

"I think if Bruer had maintained his position, [the ordinance] would have been very beneficial, and it had support of the majority of City Council," he said.

Quigley added no one else on the council is willing to step into a leadership role for the anti-loitering ordinance, so it is essentially dead. Bruer's unwillingness to revive the ordinance, Quigley said, is only harming the people in his own district.

"Bruer's district are the ones who would have heavily benefited from an anti-loitering law," Quigley said. "If [Bruer] doesn't want to do this, he's going to have to answer to his constituents."

Bruer could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Yet King noted Quigley's justification for resurfacing the anti-loitering law is "all politics." King said Ray Allen, the mayoral candidate in the next election, is a member of the Common Sense Coalition and is only trying to make Cieslewicz seem insensitive to city crime.

He also said Cieslewicz, along with Bruer, are looking into strategies to better combat city crime. Bruer's decision, King added, will benefit Madison in the long run.

"[The ordinance] was meant to score points against the mayor, and I'm glad it has now gone away," King said. "There's other ways of addressing crime … which are also much more effective strategies."