21-only: More at stake than just age limit

IOWA CITY - The outcome of Tuesday's vote on Iowa City's 21-only law should be straightforward: Either the law will be upheld, or it will be repealed.

How the community moves forward with addressing the broader issue of problem drinking is murkier, no matter the result.

Iowa City Mayor Matt Hayek said the law has already proved to be a big help, but he acknowledged it is not a cure-all. If it is repealed, however, the city's options are limited, he said.

“There aren't many tools left for a municipality like Iowa City,” he said.

The City Council-approved ordinance, which went into effect June 1, bans people younger than 21 from being in bars after 10 p.m. Previously, people 19 and older could be in bars at night, and that would again be the case if the law is repealed.

With the University of Iowa campus across the street from the bar-packed downtown, underage and binge drinking have long been issues in the community. City and UI officials believe the situation has worsened in the past decade, with surveys showing that UI students drink at much more dangerous levels than their peers nationally.

City officials have made various efforts in the past several years to get a handle on the issue but have so far failed to make much of a dent. Those include task forces, increasing enforcement and fines for alcohol-related infractions, and trying to tighten liquor-license standards.

The 21-only law has even come up before. In 2007, a proposal from the public was defeated by voters 58 percent to 42 percent.

The council was on the verge of passing a 21-only ordinance in 2003, but instead it compromised with bar owners, and the 19-and-older law was established. It was brought up again in 2004, but a majority of council members were not willing to go forward.

In 2003 and 2004, bar owners swore they'd make changes. An advisory body that included bar owners was established and promised to prod bars to closely supervise their patrons and even use “public shaming” to keep bars in check.

Leah Cohen, the owner of Bo-James restaurant and bar and a member of the anti-21-only Iowa City Safety Committee, said those efforts worked for a couple of years but claimed the city failed to listen to the board's suggestions, and it eventually disbanded.

She said no matter the outcome of Tuesday's vote, greater cooperation is needed among all the players in the debate.

“This needs to be a prominent, continual conversation in our community,” Cohen said. “One of our problems has been that we try something and we quit it.”

Iowa City Council member Connie Champion disputed Cohen's assertion that the city didn't support the alcohol advisory board. Champion was the swing vote in 2003 and ultimately chose to give bars a chance, but she eventually grew frustrated with the few bar owners she said were causing problems, and she voted for the 21-only law last spring.

She's not optimistic enough bar owners will make changes if 21-only is repealed.

“They've said that for 12 years,” she said.

Cohen and city and UI officials have pointed to Lincoln, Neb., home of the University of Nebraska, as a model worth studying. Officials from there visited Iowa City in May and said they made inroads with their drinking problems by having all parties work together. Also, downtown bar owners use peer pressure to reduce problems.

A key difference between Iowa City and Lincoln is that Nebraska state law gives cities more power to punish problem bars than Iowa does. This is what Hayek means when he says the city has few tools left.

“We have absolutely no power,” Champion said. Bar owners “are not the least bit afraid of the City Council.”

The city could lobby the Legislature for more home rule on alcohol issues, although Hayek said that may be a “tall order.”

Everyone agrees the UI has a role to play, too.

---- The UI has spent $100,000 on late-night activities so far this school year, up from $50,000 all of last year, UI spokesman Tom Moore said. Ideas come from students, and the school has brought in live entertainment and organized trips to sporting events, he said.

There aren't firm numbers on how many students have participated, but it's in the thousands, Moore said. No matter what happens Tuesday, the UI's priorities will remain the health and safety of students, he said.

Matt Pfaltzgraf, a UI student and campaign manager for Yes to Entertaining Students Safely, a group advocating against 21-only, said the UI needs to provide more financial support for activities and student organizations. He said more concerts, holding intramural sports games on weekend nights and even non-traditional activities like ballroom dancing would attract a range of students.

“Every little thing you could possibly imagine, people would be willing to do, because going downtown and going binge drinking are expensive, but it's the only option,” he said.

By law, it will be at least two years after Tuesday's election before the 21-only law could be voted on again.

Champion said if the law is repealed, she would not hesitate to propose a 21-only law again if bar owners don't make changes. Cohen and Pfaltzgraf didn't want to speculate on whether opponents would try again to repeal the law if it is upheld Tuesday.

Cohen said the city has been unwilling to engage with bar owners since the 21-only law passed, and therefore, while bars will follow the law, there probably will be less cooperation with the city.

“I think that probably, if it passes, it will kind of be everybody for their own at that point in time,” she said.