The Common Council Public Safety Review Board passed a proposal Jan. 9 to limit the number of new liquor licenses for bars and liquor stores downtown. The city claims the plan is an effort to curtail alcohol-related crime that has accelerated in the past year in the downtown area, which it defines as from Blair Street to Lake Street.
While we commend the city for making resident safety a priority, we feel they are confusing correlation with causation when it comes to alcohol and crime statistics.
According to the Madison Police Department's Alcohol Density Plan Proposal, 73 percent of police reports in the State Street and Langdon Street area included suspects who were believed to be intoxicated. Similarly, 77 percent of victims were also reported as intoxicated.
It seems the city is using these statistics in order to place the blame solely on downtown bars, when in fact a decrease in licenses does not necessarily equate to a guarantee of crime reduction.
There are many other factors to consider. For example, there is no way to know if the suspects and victims alike in the cited statistics were drinking at bars or areas of residence. Langdon Street is a major party hub on campus and it is possible a number of the suspects and victims attended parties in this area.
A cap on new liquor licenses would also make current bars more crowded—potentially spawning more violence.
The fact of the matter is that Madison is growing into a big city and will find itself facing more and more big city problems.
We believe a more comprehensive study is necessary before the city can place blame on downtown businesses for alcohol-related crime.
Also, we feel this proposal may be a back-handed approach to turn downtown away from a place of vibrant nightlife into a family-friendly area. We do not wish to dissuade the downtown area from becoming more family friendly, but we feel courting large businesses onto the Capitol Square or the State Street area is a better option than preventing a few new bars from entering downtown.
The city already has the ability to deny or reduce a liquor license. If the city is this concerned, instead of imposing a ban perhaps they should merely be more selective.
