Hoping to enforce underage drinking laws, Iowa City City Councilors sought a clear way to hold bars accountable.
That’s why they approved an ordinance that hinges bars’ liquor-license renewal on their underage drinking ticket counts.
“We’re really trying to get the bar owners to regulate who’s drinking in their bars,” said Councilor Connie Champion. “[The ratio] is something we can put our fingers on; it’s something we can measure.”
In July, councilors used the new ordinance to deny renewing liquor licenses for Et Cetera, 118 S. Dubuque St., and 3rd Base Sports Bar, 111 E. College St., based exclusively on the ratio of underage drinking tickets to police visits.
As other Iowa City bar owners prepare to face the council, city officials have indicated their desire to send a message.
In a July 29 e-mail obtained by The Daily Iowan, Iowa City police Chief Sam Hargadine wrote to Sgt. Troy Kelsay that the councilors’ decision “should send a shock wave through the downtown bars.”
Under the ordinance, passed in February, Hargadine is required to recommend denial of liquor-license renewals for any bars with a ratio of more than one PAULA per police visit.
Jim Clayton, who serves on the state Alcoholic Beverages Commission, said he was pleasantly surprised with the council’s decision to turn down renewals for Et Cetera and 3rd Base, known informally as the Fieldhouse.
“For years, there has been an economic engine of underage drinking in our community,” said Clayton, who owned a business on the Pedestrian Mall for 28 years before passing it on to his son. “I remember I was shocked the City Council actually followed through.”
Clayton lauded the council’s policy blitz.
“After all this time, out of the blue, the City Council established this policy, passed the [500-foot] zoning ordinance, and now has enforced this policy,” he said, calling the councilors’ actions a positive approach.
He said the council failed to accomplish anything as dramatic a decade ago. At the time he worked with Stepping Up, a group similar to the more recent Alcohol Steering Committee, focused on the consequences of binge drinking from missing classes to sexual assault.
Councilor Mike O’Donnell said he supports the new regulation for non-renewal because he believes underage drinking is directly related to violence and over-consumption.
However, he said he isn’t a proponent of making Iowa City’s bars 21-and-older.
“I think we have students who come into town, and this is an activity for them to go out and socialize and dance,” O’Donnell said. “There’s really not a lot else for them to do.”
Passed in February, the ordinance mandates Iowa City police to suggest license denial based on one statistic. But Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey said the council takes other factors, like calls for service, into consideration before making a final decision.
“You run your business legally, and that’s just that,” she said. “I think the council painted it pretty well: Enough is enough.”