[media-credit name=’JAKE NAUGHTON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]
A Madison neighborhood association presented strategic plans
Thursday to increase prices and taxes on alcoholic beverages.
The Alcohol Issues Committee of Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc.,
hopes to help curb what they see as excessive drinking issues facing the
downtown area. On Thursday, they delivered a research-based presentation on
alcohol prevention strategies to city residents, officials, business owners and
University of Wisconsin staff.
Along with increasing prices and taxes, CNI members Rich
Brown and John Scherpelz proposed better enforcement of drinking laws and
screening processes for IDs.
By January 2009, CNI would also like to see the numbers
double for underage drinking citations issued by Madison and UW Police and
twice as many students disciplined by UW for drinking infractions in residence
halls.
?Underage individuals seem to believe that they are not
under any legal risk for drinking or for having a fake ID, and in downtown
Madison and on campus the largest underage drinking is having little deterrent
effect,? Brown said.
The committee proposed requiring 50 percent of downtown bars
to use electric scanners for IDs after 10 p.m. and all UW facilities to use
them by January 2009.
According to the committee, Wisconsin?s beer tax is the
second-lowest in the country, at 0.6 cents on a 12-ounce bottle of beer. The
committee proposed substantially increasing the tax and alcohol prices downtown
by 20 percent by 2009.
?It?s pretty laughable that beer tax has not been increased
in the state in 40 years,? City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4,
said. ?But, I?m wary of the city activity working to increase the price of
drinking downtown.?
Former alcohol policy coordinator for Madison and current
mayoral aide, Joel Plant, said he has a three-tiered approach to the city?s
alcohol problems: enforcement, education and environment.
?When we talk about environment, we are talking about
everything from individual licensed establishments to small apartment parties
to the city as a whole,? Plant said. ?The key to environmental approach is to
identify the authority figures for each environment and put them in charge.?
Katherine Plominski, the city?s new alcohol policy
coordinator, said three months into the position that she already has 23 goals
for the 2008-09 year, such as increasing late-night transportation and
including a student on the Alcohol License Committee.
Dawn Crim, acting special assistant to the chancellor for
communication relations, spoke at the meeting about the numerous ways UW
reaches out to students about alcohol, adding that UW offers a large amount of
nonalcoholic events every year, notably the All-Campus Party celebration each
spring.
Crim said students are involved with how to handle alcohol
policies.
?There are many conversations with students about drinking
that are already underway, and those will continue,? Crim added.
According to Richard Lyshek, owner of Ram Head, 303 N. Henry
St., students out late at night actually help to keep the downtown area safe.
?I would not feel safe walking home at three in the morning
if I didn?t know that there were thousands ? literally, thousands ? of law-abiding
students,? Lyshek said. ?The only thing they may have done that is illegal for
the night is that they drank even though they were only 20, God forbid.?