Two weekends ago, the Stadium Bar came under fire from Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, for posting their phone numbers, in addition to Ald. Julia Kerr, District 13, on a large screen television monitor outside after the Oct. 11 football game against Penn State. Posting these numbers resulted in many drunk dials"" from the bar's patrons.
Stadium Bar posted the numbers in response to a mandate that forces outdoor bar areas - such as the beer garden offered at the Stadium Bar - to close at 10 p.m. The mandate aims to decrease noise in the surrounding area from large game day crowds. This incident follows a long string of disputes between the city and Stadium Bar over the 10 p.m. closing time.
While the mandate that Stadium Bar protested may be unfair, the manner in which Stadium Bar's management chose to protest the mandate was manipulative, inappropriate, and disrespectful of city officials. Whether or not these telephone numbers are available in a phone book, presenting them to intoxicated patrons and identifying the officials these numbers belong to as the sole cause of the mandateis inappropriate. Further, the fact that some of the numbers listed were home numbers proves extremely juvenile.
Madison officials often stress the importance of calling representatives when unhappy with a specific policy as an effective method way to bring change. But in this particular instance, ""drunk dialing"" city officials does nothing more than disturb city officials in their homes with hostile messages, nor will it help bars like Stadium Bar in the long run. If anything, this attempt at creating a change in the mandate through drunk, civilian criticism will likely hinder any progress in actually revising the 10 p.m. closing time.
If the Stadium Bar wants to serve Badger fans outside after late games, harassing city officials is not the proper way to achieve these results and said officials have every right to be upset. There is a time and a place for disagreements like this, and the Stadium Bar failed on both of these counts two weekends ago.
This mandate obviously raises questions - specifically regarding noise restrictions in an area populated by students partying before and after football games, but the city and the Stadium Bar need to discus this situation and revise terms in the mandate. For such a process to work, though, both sides need to be civil, and the Stadium Bar delivered a particularly low blow in this instance.
