A coordinated effort by bar owners, the Madison police and city government to reduce binge drinking in the downtown area has been declared a failure and will soon be completely rescinded, according to Ald. Judy Olson, District 6.
Several years ago, bans on drink specials were implemented for a group of downtown drinking establishments. Due to their ineffectiveness, the bans have already been dropped on several bars and soon will fall away for all, Olson said.
Nine bars still have bans in place that restrict their ability to sell drinks at cheaper prices. This summer, the Alcohol Licensing and Review Committee recommended that the City Council lift bans on three bars, Olson said. A Sept. 7 City Council Meeting should act on the recommendation. Three more bars will have their bans lifted. According to Olson, the remaining six should be free of restrictions by the end of October.
The following businesses are among those with bans still in place: Crave Lounge, 201 W. Gorham St., Nam's Noodle, 1336 Regent St., University Square Theater, 62 University Square Mall, Buck's Tavern, 802 Regent St., Regent Street Retreat, 1206 Regent St., Johnny O's, 620 University Ave., and Hawk's, 425 State St.
The ALRC has moved forward to clear away unnecessary restrictions that can harm local business, said Ryan Johnson, general manager of the Regent Street Retreat.
\This new ALRC group is moving in the right direction, a lot more business-friendly,"" Johnson said.
Olson explained the restrictions were put in place with good intentions but over time have proven to be essentially worthless.
""It's an effort to try and legislate good business by saying, 'OK, we the ALRC are interested in seeing this establishment be located in the downtown because we think they would be an asset, but we don't want to be adding to the problem of overdrinking in the State Street area,'"" Olson said.
Olson blamed the dilemma on the ""saturation of bars"" in the downtown area. The number of establishments seeking to operate with a liquor license in the downtown area has grown over the past several years, she said.
The ban was well-intentioned, but the methods under which it was implemented were questionable, Johnson said.
""It was a voluntary restriction on our license, whether or not it was really voluntary is a matter of debate,"" Olson said.
Without the bans in place, other methods will be tried in an effort to continue the fight against problem drinking downtown. Required servings of food, early closings, video cameras and new security plans are some of the possible methods, Olson said.
""They would like to level the playing field for everybody and not have some people with certain restrictions and others not,"" said Marsh Shapiro, owner of the Nitty Gritty, 223 N. Frances St., and Tavern League representative on the ALRC.
