Tomorrow evening, the Madison City Council will consider passing a law to ban all new bars or liquor stores from opening in the downtown area.

We object to the Alcohol Licensing Density Plan on a number of levels, and we urge all members of the City Council to vote "No," not least of all because the plan is fundamentally counterproductive to its noblest goal: making Madison a safer place.

Supporters of this decidedly anti-business piece of legislation seem to agree there are simply "too many bars" in the downtown area. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has spoken of a daily bar time exodus — waves of intoxicated students rushing out onto the city streets — which he says creates a perilous safety situation for his police department to manage.

We too are concerned about safety in Madison and agree bar time can be particularly problematic. But we totally reject what seems to be an unstated premise in the density plan argument: that fewer bars downtown means fewer people in Madison will consume alcohol.

If this plan becomes law, we believe one of two things will happen. Either the same number of people will head out to the bars — resulting in more overcrowding and doing nothing to alleviate the safety problem — or, tired of long lines, more people will instead frequent unregulated house parties, which means more overconsumption and less public visibility.

Moreover, talk of "too many bars" does little to convince us that a city ordinance restricting the freedom of business owners and consumers is a wise policy. Safety concerns aside, if there are, in fact, too many bars in Madison, some of them will go out of business. If, on the other hand, there is actually a demand for more bars in Madison, this plan could prolong empty storefronts in the downtown area, where a new taxpaying tavern might otherwise be happy to move in.

While advocates of this plan are undoubtedly concerned over safety and crime, we cannot help but think an anti-alcohol, anti-bar sentiment is partly to blame for the continued support for this deeply flawed proposal. For better or worse, the people of downtown Madison — many of them UW students — enjoy gathering with friends for a few alcoholic beverages at local bars. If the City Council is going to infringe on the market for this service, the desire to eradicate crime or promote safety is not a satisfactory enough reason — the plan has to work, too.