Forward from 21

Even before all the ballots were counted in the vote to repeal Iowa City's bar-entry age ordinance, the mood downtown was best described as somber.

Only a handful of people crowded in front of televisions at some of the city's largest bars  -- once heaving with 19- and 20-year-olds and now near empty as the results rolled in.

Exactly four people at The Union Bar ("The biggest bar in the Big 10," according to their promotional materials.); another half dozen or so at The Summit. "We're losing right now," the bartender tells me just after 10 p.m. as another college-aged man reads to us the updated polling numbers from his smartphone.

The final tally: 48 to 52 percent: The No's have it. From now on in Iowa City, every bar is 21, including these and other high-capacity bars which used to draw underage students by the hundreds. Most people didn't think it would turn out this way -- sure, pro-21 groups this time around had more money and more big-name backers, but the anti-21 groups had a pool of eager student voters and the dance floor's siren song. No contest -- or so we thought.

Even at the Deadwood -- always a 21 bar -- the mood is one of somber disbelief. Every so often the bartenders glance up at the screen and shake their heads. Next door, a planned victory party at The Sports Column has gone bust. Outside, reporters swarm anti-21 leaders and pepper them with questions: What's next?

One thing's almost certain: Downtown Iowa City will evolve. There simply won't be enough business for the 700, 800 capacity bars that used to draw underage coeds like moths to a flame. Already Mike Porter, owner of The Summit, Vito's and Sauce, has filed for bankruptcy. He won't be the last.

It had to be done -- Iowa City's drinking problem had been out of control for too long. Preliminary figures show that the 21-ordinance isn't only slashing the number of underage drinkers in bars, but also alcohol-related assaults, DUIs, hospital admissions and other crimes.

Now that the ordinance is cemented -- for now, at least -- there's a lot more to do. University and city leaders must continue their fight against excessive drinking here, and businesses must step up to give those underage students a place to spend their money.