After downtown tavern owners decided to participate in a voluntary weekend drink specials ban nearly two months ago, city and UW-Madison officials, along with participating bar owners, are evaluating its effectiveness.
Downtown bars and restaurants decided in September not to sell drink specials on Friday and Saturday nights to see if the specials influence negative drinking behavior, such as over-drinking and violence.
Barb Mercer, President of the Madison/Dane County Tavern League, said the ban is showing drink specials will not change drinking habits.
\It made no difference in behavior, and that was our point,"" Mercer said.
Determining the effects of the ban is difficult at this early stage, according to Susan Crowley, Director of the Policy Alternatives Community and Education Project.
PACE staff members confirmed the bars are not advertising drink specials on the weekends, Crowley said. However, because not every bar in the area takes part in the ban, she said she is skeptical of the current ban's ability to prove whether or not drink specials affect high-risk drinking.
""It's going to be hard to evaluate a voluntary ban, frankly,"" Crowley said.
However, Michael Florek, President of the Tellurian Unified Community Addiction Network, which assists Dane County Detoxification, said the network has seen a small increase in the number of intoxicated students brought in for treatment. He added, however, that he thinks the increases are associated with football games, Halloween and events like Homecoming.
""The drinking nights are Thursday, Friday and Saturday and that's when we get the most students and that hasn't changed,"" Florek said.
Madison Police Department Lt. Stephanie Bradley Wilson of the department's Central District Patrol Operations said she has not noticed great changes in the police department's response to batteries and other alcohol-related crimes.
""Our workload has not yet been impacted so that there has been a reduction in those calls,"" Bradley Wilson said. She added, however, ""That doesn't mean there hasn't been some isolated improvement.""
Despite Crowley's concern over the voluntary nature of the ban, tavern owners said bars comply with the proposal and that the majority of businesses are participating.
According to Marsh Shapiro, owner of the Nitty Gritty, 223 N. Frances, an estimated 90 percent of the downtown bars take part in the ban.
Ross Johnson, general manager at State Street Brats, 603 State St., said the largest businesses are involved.
""Your 12 biggest downtown bars and restaurants and places with the highest capacities are all participating,"" Johnson said.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he believes because drink specials were not that generous initially, they do not have a large impact on deterring binge drinking. He referred to the price reductions as ""token specials.""
""The whole effort to ban drink specials is a joke,"" Verveer said. ""Drinking is so deeply ingrained in our culture that it will take years to reduce the central role alcohol has.\
