PARTIES OVER? CHIEF, REVENOOERS TO ENFORCE LIQUOR LAWS AT EVENTS
The forecast for Gallery Night & Day, the quarterly art event which has its latest installment this evening, Friday, January 16th, 2009, is "cold and dry," thanks to a chilling letter sent to its sponsor, the Historic Third Ward Association from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue Criminal Investigation Section Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement. [see below.]
No more free drinks at unlicensed galleries is the outcome, putting a damper on one of this city's cherished customs, and on a whole lot of fun.
Galleries are considered to be "public places," according to the letter from the revenooers, and therefore may not offer alcohol beverages without a license. Nor may they give away drinks to evade the law. The exception: art shows held in licensed premises. There are more of these than you might imagine among this evening's participants, including The Grohmann Museum at MSOE, the Haggerty Museum, Milwaukee Ale House, Hotel Metro, Broadway Theater Center, Fratello's, the Italian Community Center, the Milwaukee Public Market, Riverfront Pizza, Soup's On!, Vino 100 and the Iron Horse Hotel. Of course this is no guarantee that the museums will be pouring, or that the tavern-restaurants will be handing out the hootch for free.
CARRY-INS BANNED FROM JAZZ IN THE PARK
Looking beyond Gallery Night, the East Town Association has voted to prohibit carry-ins of alcohol beverages, at Jazz in the Park in Cathedral Square, dealing another blow to Milwaukee's freewheeling drinking culture. Jazz in the Park, soon to begin its 19th season, in the event June ever arrives, has long been known for its carry-in culture. Nobody did it sooner or better than millionaire real estate developer and Stevens Point Brewery owner Jim Wiechmann, whose blue cooler could always be counted on to be filled to the brim with Point beers, which he would distribute liberally and freely at the Thursday concerts. Wiechmann was not available for comment when I called.
According to reports, the East Town board voted to prohibit the practice of carry-ins after being notified to halt the practice by the Milwaukee Police Department. [East Town Press Release.]
This is a bit of a surprise, since Chief Edward Flynn, who lives in the neighborhood, had been seen enjoying the concerts this summer. (The chief did not bring in his own drinks, or sample those of other visitors, preferring to enjoy a beverage at the adjacent Louise's Trattoria, instead, as I recall.)
But who would have guessed that as the chief walked through the heartily imbibing crowds he was saying to himself, "Good heavens! This is a clear violation of Wisconsin Statutes 125.32 (6)(a)!" He could have busted us all right on the spot.
The statute, cited in the chief's letter to East Town, says:
"no person may possess on the premises covered by a retail or wholesale fermented malt beverages license or permit any alcohol beverages not authorized by law for sale on the premises."
In other words, during Jazz in the Park, Cathedral Square is, in the eyes of the law, a saloon just like any other. If you want a drink, you have to buy it from the proprietor, in this case at festival rates. Or, go to Elsa's and get it on the cheap.
Jazz in the Park used to get its beer from Sprecher Brewery, but that deal went south, and the distributor was switched to Miller Brands - Beer Capitol Distributing, Inc. - W.O.W. Distributing Co., Inc., whatever they call it now.
Although W.O.W. sells products ranging from Afflinem to Zywiec, (including Point) it may not have products to suit the folks who used to bring their own beer to the festival. Perhaps some arrangement could be made to allow other brewers to sell their wares. A $5 plastic cup of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy doesn't necessarily cut it for all of us.
The prohibition on outside beverages could help the bottom line of East Town and its allied organization, Music in the Park.
In 2007, the most recent year for which information is available, East Town Association had receipts of $1,159,658 and expenses of $868,386. [East Town Association 2007 tax return]. Among its revenues was $54,550 provided from the activities of Jazz in the Park [Music in the Park 2007 tax return.] Profits from Bastille Days amounted to $100,000 and profits from the Farmers' Market at Cathedral Square brought in another $18,000 to the organization's coffers.
It appears from the organization's tax return that profits are good from the sale of the beer, which brought in $92,186 in sales at a cost of $36,594. Chances are that number will increase, if people continue to go to Jazz in the Park and decide to spend their money with the organization's vendor for a change.
Perhaps at some point, East Town and its allied organizations will find a way to dedicate their profits to the improvement and rehabilitation of the park which takes such a severe beating from its use as a revenue-generating outdoor tavern for the groups. That problem has been brewing for over a decade now.
Cheers!
--Michael Horne
THE LETTER FROM THE WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
Good afternoon Nancy, this is a follow up to our phone call this morning regarding the Gallery Night/Day event that is being held on Friday January 16 and Saturday January 17, 2009. There has been ample media attention regarding events such as this, as well as individual businesses providing free alcohol to their customers on a regular basis or during a special event. I would like to clarify some important laws regarding this issue.
*Boutiques, art galleries, hair salons, bookstores and the like (this list is not all inclusive) are not allowed to give away or sell alcohol beverages to customers. Under definition, these businesses are considered "public places" (please see 125.09(1)). In addition to that, 125.67 states that a business can not give away alcohol beverages to evade the law. During the special event, an option for a business could be that they would provide a "coupon" (or something similar) to customers, allowing them to have a "free" drink at one of the local, licensed establishments.
Of course, any of the licensed businesses involved in the Gallery Night/Day event are allowed to sell and serve alcohol beverages accordingly. My goal is to clarify the laws surrounding these events to ensure consistent and fair enforcement of the Wisconsin alcohol beverage laws. It would be greatly appreciated if you would disseminate this information to your members involved in this event.
If you, or any of your members have questions or need further assistance, please contact me. In addition to that, if there are any other associations that I need to contact regarding similar events, please let me know.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Georgeann King, Special Agent
WI-Department of Revenue
Criminal Investigation Section
Alcohol & Tobacco Enforcement
819 N. 6th Street, Room 408
Milwaukee WI 53203
(414) 227-4260
posted by Michael Horne @ 11:12 AM
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6 Comments:
I think the law should be enforced. But when law enforcement is stretched thin due to limited budgets, the law should focus on venues which are sources of problems and which cause harm to prosperity. A venue which is mildly breaking the law and which spreads prosperity should never be a focus.
Georgeann King is not doing her job or else is in a position which is begging for a budget cut if she has to reign in a major institution which helps to keep artists fed. Seriously, if her position has to hit local events like this to do her job then she obviously doesn't have any real enforcement to deal with.
Both of the laws need to be updated to allow for exceptions for special events such as these.
The Repeal of Prohibition brought beer and liquor back to the masses, but saddled businesses and individuals with many new laws and restrictions on alcohol, plenty which are still around today. Many of these antiquated rules don’t protect the citizens but instead line the pockets of government groups and liquor distributors.
The East Town Association’s recent vote had little to do with following the law but had everything to do with making money. My guess is that few people will want to pay $8 for a plastic glass of mundane wine or $6 for a plastic bottle of Miller Lite in this rotten economy. The police clearly aren't going to want to peek in picnic baskets and coolers at an event like this - which leads me to believe they had nothing to do with this.
The East Town Association was greedy and now this could signal the end of Jazz in the Park.
Intent of the law is different than the letter of the law.
If the difference merges to the point that persons such as Georgeann King can't tell the difference, then I am very sad. Obviously, the laws were not written to keep a person from sipping two ounces of chianti while enjoying visual art at a gallery.
On the other hand, I feel a lot safer now that I am protected from the hordes of drunken rioting art lovers...;)
Better watch out...cheese and crackers, cookies, and soda are next...after all, art galleries are not licensed food establishments.
Today's article in the newspaper by Jim Stingl makes it pretty clear that the East Town Association’s policy change is about making money and not enforcing the law.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn has an interesting quote: "Listen, I can't tell you the Police Department is not going to enforce appropriate laws. I will tell you that when it comes to an event like this, we're going to respond to conduct. We're not doing anything pro-active."
So if the police don't care about Wisconsin Statutes 125.32 (6)(a), then why is the East Town Association suddenly making a big deal out of it? Maybe to strong-arm people into buying their overpriced beverages.
That's a reasonable assumption, Oz, which I might temper with another observation -- events such as Jazz in the Park can be extremely lucrative to Beer Distributors. They are the middlemen of the three-tiered alcohol system here, and you can never cut them out of the picture.
But it can be very convenient for an association like East Town, in its guise as the Class "B" licensee, to form an arrangement with a single distributor to handle all beer for a given event. In exchange, the distributor provides nifty keggers-on-wheels, cups, awnings and other amenities and enjoys the opportunity of holding monopoly control of tremendous beer sales in a given area (Cathedral Square) for a given time. Same goes for the wine distributors.
Rival distributors are frozen out. Furthermore, wouldn't you know, the distributors use events like these to unload their most common-denominator products, or whatever they decide to push at the behest of their very largest suppliers. Summer Shandy one year, Lemon Light the next, or God Forbid, Peroni.
There is little incentive for the event promoter to offer a variety of products.
The loser (in addition to the customer) is likely the adjacent class "B" licensees, most or all of whom use multiple distributors to provide a variety of beer choices to their customers.
Another significant loser is any nearby Class "A" licensee. It is fair to say that Metro Market doubles its alcohol beverage business on Thursday evenings during jazz in the park.
Thank you for reading milwaukeeworld
Horne
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