Listen up, members of the Madison City Council: The Alcohol License Density Plan is not the best way to decrease alcohol-related crime in Madison. When the time comes to vote on the plan at tonight's meeting, strike it down.
For those less familiar with the density plan, here's the gist of it: ALDP would limit the number of licenses issued to new bars and liquor stores in Madison. The Common Council Public Safety Review Board passed the proposal last January as a possible measure to reduce downtown crime associated with intoxication.
Yet, while alcohol-related crime is indeed high in Madison, new bars should not be the scapegoats of safety-related policymaking - plenty of students and Madison residents get their buzz in the comforts of home.
Accordingly, the plan does not discourage people from consuming alcohol - it just disperses them elsewhere, leaving drunks free (as per usual) to take their revelry to public places.
This editorial board stands by its previous calls to reduce downtown crime through more hands-on methods, such as monitoring bars' adherence to crowd control and carding regulations and carefully policing Madison's residential areas.
The council is right to prioritize downtown safety, but ALDP will likely do nothing more than augment the council's given right to deny new permits.
Moreover, the density plan does not have to die completely if the council votes it down - there is always the option to send it to committee to refine alcohol-related safety measures without making bars take the brunt of the council's aims.
