Police stats get attention in I.C.'s 21-only debate

One side cites statistics, the other says data can be misleading.

Supporters of Iowa City's 21-only ordinance released on Thursday police stats they say shows the controversial law is working.

The law, which prevents people younger than 21 from being in non-exempt establishments with liquor licenses (mostly bars) after 10 p.m., went into effect June 1.

From that date through Sept. 30, there have been drops in drunken driving arrests citywide (22 percent), public intoxication arrests downtown (41 percent), and calls to police for fights in progress (51 percent), intoxicated pedestrians (59 percent) and loud parties (7 percent) downtown and in the surrounding neighborhoods on the weekend when compared with the same period a year ago.

“I think those are incredibly compelling numbers,” City Council member Susan Mims said.

She spoke at a news conference for 21 Makes Sense, a committee campaigning in support of the ordinance.

Voters are being asked in the Nov. 2 election whether they want to repeal the City Council-approved law. If it is repealed, the minimum age to enter a bar at night would return to 19.

Jim Mondanaro, the owner of a few downtown restaurants and co-chair of the anti-21-only Iowa City Safety Committee, said he believes much of the underage drinking has simply moved to house parties.

If police officers were to go into houses holding parties, “they could be writing tickets all night long,” he said.

House parties have been up for debate in the 21-only campaign, with both sides using the issue to promote their view.

Supporters of the law and some homeowners say the parties haven't been as bad as expected and may even be less of a problem than years past. Martha Greer spoke for 21 Makes Sense Thursday and said her family has slept with their windows open in September this fall for the first time in their 11 years on South Governor Street, an area where many college students live and can be loud at night.

While Mims highlighted that calls for loud parties are down, she did not mention that there have been 155 disorderly house arrests citywide in the past four months, more than double from the same period last year. The police are sending more officers to neighborhoods on “party patrols,” however, and Mims said they are giving more tickets than in the past.

Their also have been complaints from residents who say parties have been a problem this year. And some college students also say the house party scene is alive and well, it's just that not all parties draw attention.

Brian Kennedy, a 20-year-old UI student, said on an average weekend night last year, there would be just a couple of house parties he knew about, but now there are several. He also said there are more apartment parties – some that take place in multiple units – that don't generate calls to the police because nearly everyone in the complex is a student.

“It's not going to deter people from drinking,” he said of the 21-only law. “It's just going to move it elsewhere.”