Later this month, Mayor-elect Dave Cieslewicz will appoint four new members to the Alcohol Licensing Review Committee, a body that reviews and examines all applications for granting alcohol licenses in Madison.
Within the last year, the ALRC has spearheaded an effort to ban drink specials in Madison's downtown bars. Cieslewicz's appointments to the committee could either hinder or help this effort.
ALRC member Richard Lyshek said Cieslewicz did not seem to support a drink special ban when Lyshek talked to him.
Thomas Dewar, Mayor-elect Ciewlewicz's communications director, confirmed this.
\Cieslewicz is not a fan of banning drink specials,"" Dewar said. ""He thinks it might have some unintended consequences,"" such as ""moving drinking from a controlled to an uncontrolled environment.""
Dewar said it was too early to discuss the mayor's plans for committee appointments.
Questioned whether he thought it a good idea to appoint a student to the ALRC, Dewar remained vague.
""I don't think it's an inherently bad idea,"" he said.
The terms of ALRC members Ald. Judy Olson, District 6, ALRC Chair Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, Thomas H. Garver and Jerry M. Ruffin will expire April 15.
All of the ALRC members interviewed said they were unaware of any particular individual Cieslewicz was considering for appointment.
However, Lyshek, owner of Bull Feathers, 303 N. Henry St., said he doubted there would be any big changes to the makeup of the committee.
When asked what direction he would like to see the committee take, Lyshek answered, ""I'm hoping that the mayor's office will be able to provide some guidance and coordination between the ALRC, the city attorney and the police department. ... I think that in the downtown Madison area it's a frivolous waste of resources to be sending policemen running around trying to find underage drinkers.""
One of the biggest challenges to face the committee, according to Bruer, will be to ""work on the balance between providing an enjoyable entertainment atmosphere [in the downtown area], and at the same time having an eye for responsibility and maintaining public safety.""
ALRC member Stephanie A. Rearick, co-chair of Progressive Dane, said she hoped the new appointments would bring a ""wider range of perspectives, ages, socioeconomic status and gender"" to the committee.
