21 Is Back. I'm Voting No.

Sigh.

I suppose it was inevitable.  Yes, Iowa City's 21-only ordinance is, in all likelihood heading back to the polls in November which means we're going to have another go round of the tiresome never-ending debate about Iowa City's bar culture.

Look, I'm not immune to the very real point that if you're old enough to have sex, smoke, fight and potentially die for your country you should be able to have a beer.  But this ordinance will not in any way, shape or form change the drinking age.  Arguing that it will or that it's a 'point worth making' seem like non-starters to me.  If you really want to change the drinking age, start lobbying folks in Des Moines.  That I'd support.

The second argument is going to revolve around the impact on local businesses.  As far as I can tell, it's been negligible at best.   Pizza On Dubuque had to move and claimed it was because they lost business after the 21 only ordinance passed but a walk by P.O.D. on a Thursday night and there seemed to be no shortage of customers so I'm not convinced.  (And they did find a new home on Iowa Avenue, just around the corner so it's not like they closed or even had to move that far.)   Hmmm...  what else? One Eyed Jake's closed down.   Oh my.  What a blow that was.   Which brings me to my point:

What makes a bar, a bar?  To me, a bar is a place for eating, drinking, socialization, good music and dancing-- a place where you can have a good conversation with your friends.   Pre-21, Iowa City had two strata of bars (at least from where I'm sitting) you had the real bars and then you had places like Jake's which was a gigantic room that sold cheap beer.  (The one time I ventured into Jake's, everything was sticky and I had the creepy sensation that an STD was trying to crawl up my leg and when I left, I wanted to go home, take a shower and burn all my clothes.)

We could use less bars like that- and my contention remains that 21-only hasn't hurt Iowa City's bar culture, it's forced it to raise it's game.   So I'll be voting against the repeal- and you should too.