La Crosse’s drink-special ban could be back on table with newly formed committee

City council committee put off voting on ban for months, to pass off to new committee 

Back in late May, a La Crosse city council committee was looking at new rules that could ban all-you-can-drink specials and bar games in the city.

The committee, however, didn’t want to touch the proposal – one it had put off in early April, after it was proposed in early March – and voted to send it to a new city committee that hadn’t been formed yet.

Well, that committee is now official. The Alcohol Working Committee will meet tonight in city hall.

The proposal to ban drink specials, which included things like 2-for-1s and 3-for-1s, along with bar drinking games could be on the agenda.

City councilman Gary Padesky is the chairman of the new committee and hopes that people who have differences about serving alcohol in La Crosse can work together on a solution.

“I just hope we can reach some kind of compromise,” Padesky said. “That’s the big reason that, when this was talked about in council two months ago, that I said I would be willing to talk about this and bring it forward.”

Other things that could be on the agenda: reviewing amendments to rules for serving liquor and passing a list of best practices for those holding a temporary alcohol license.

La Crosse had a similar city-formed study group to look at reducing heavy drinking in the last 20 years. One had met for the better part of a decade but was disbanded after the election of La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat.

Padesky is hoping that this panel can maintain a limited agenda and will only have to meet a couple of times.

“There’s no reason that, if you start getting to a third, fourth, fifth meeting, all you’re doing is rehashing things,” Padesky said.