PACE reaction to downtown alcohol plan

Madison’s Alcohol License Review Committee will review a plan this week that would freeze and possibly even reduce the number of alcohol licenses downtown.

Susan Crowley, director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s PACE Project to limit the effects of high-risk drinking in the campus community, will testify in favor of the measure as an important step toward longer-range, policy-based solutions for alcohol-related problems.

“Easy access and the cheap availability of alcohol continues to contribute to crime in the downtown area and the endangerment of the health and safety of UW–Madison students,” Crowley says. “Controlling access, whether it is at a licensed establishment, a retail outlet or an unlicensed tavern at a house party, should be a community priority.”

The session will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, in Room GR-27 of the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Crowley is available at (608) 262-9007 or sjcrowley@uhs.wisc.edu for interviews on density limits and other policies and strategies to limit over-consumption of alcohol downtown.