As months of construction on State Street come to an end, the owner of a popular downtown bar might get the chance to utilize the revamped area for a sidewalk café.
The Madison Alcohol License Review Committee voted Wednesday to recommend a change in the liquor license premise of Mondays, located at 523 State St., to include a sidewalk café. Mondays owner Gary Garten said the end of construction gave him an opportunity to provide patrons with outdoor seating.
I've always had a loading zone [in front] for the last 23 years, so I've never had the opportunity to have a sidewalk café,"" Garten said. ""Now that they just finished reconstructing the 500 block, I don't have the loading zone anymore.""
Garten's request for the five-table, 18-seat sidewalk café did not come without debate. ALRC committee members questioned whether they could allow Mondays, an establishment that makes 100 percent of its profit from alcohol, to have a sidewalk café.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said other bars that don't sell food like the Irish Pub and Genna's have sidewalk cafés. Committee members also expressed concern over having patrons drinking outside in an area with a high bar density, but Garten said the sidewalk café would be for afternoon patrons and agreed to close the area by 10 p.m.
Barbara Mercer, president of the Madison-Dane County Tavern League, also pointed out that sidewalk cafés allow patrons to smoke, which has been an issue for the business since the city enacted a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars in 2005.
""When we went through the city smoking ban, this was one of the areas that was going to be allowed so that businesses could apply for café areas '¦ where there was an area for their customers to smoke,"" Mercer said.
The ALRC's recommendation to approve the sidewalk café at Mondays will now go to the Common Council for a final vote.
