In response to several Madison residents' complaints that drunken loiterers have made their neighborhood parks unwelcoming, the City Council may ban drinking in city parks altogether.
The Madison Parks Commission today will explore whether such a ban will help people feel more comfortable about hanging out and allowing children to play in several specific parks, where they say unruly and intoxicated people drive them away.
Residents say parks like B.B. Clarke Beach on Lake Monona are mostly frequented by middle-aged men who start drinking early in the morning and heckle park-goers and those living around the area.
\The stories from B.B. Clarke Beach are terrible,"" said Ald. Dorothy Borchardt, District 12, who serves on the Park Commission.
The council banned drinking at the beach last summer and is waiting for the neighborhood's approval. According to Borchardt, the motive behind a citywide ban is that when the city bans alcohol in one park, the drinkers simply move on to another. Drinking has already been banned at James Madison Park, Warner Park and over a dozen others.
""It really sort of stemmed from many neighborhoods coming to the Parks Commission and talking about their parks and problems with alcohol,"" said Randall Glysch, who serves on the Parks Commissioners Board.
Although his neighborhood park doesn't have issues with heavy drinkers, Glysch said he has heard plenty of stories from other Madison park-area residents. However, he added, there have been few complaints about parties on UW-Madison football game days near Vilas Park.
Borchardt said the proposed ban would give police a way to deal with belligerent park drinkers, but added she does not expect police to crack down on the average picnicker who wants a beer with their burger, so long as they behave themselves.
""I have mixed feelings on it. If you're going for a picnic and you want a can of beer with your picnic or a glass of wine, why can't you?"" she said. ""But you get a bunch of people there and all they do is sit around and drink in the parks, starting in the morning, and the children can't use the parks because they're hanging out there and behaving very inappropriately.\
