Title
Authorizing the Parks Superintendent to Create Temporary Park Rules for No Alcohol Parks
Body
Preamble
Regulating alcohol in the Madison Parks system is necessary due to inappropriate activities, which make it difficult for most of the public to enjoy the park system. The level of alcohol abuse and the behavior that comes with such abuse causes citizens to not feel safe or welcome in the Madison Parks system. This makes it difficult for Madison Parks to meet its mission to provide the ideal system of parks, which will enhance the quality of life for everyone.
Madison Parks continues to strive for a balance between allowing alcohol in the park system generally and the need to regulate it in specific situations. The Parks Behavior Policy has provided the ability for Park Ranger staff to address individual cases of inappropriate behavior related to alcohol in a park. However, in certain situations, the volume of inappropriate behavior is too high to be managed using the behavior policy alone. Additionally, the Park Rangers have a large amount of responsibility across the entire Parks system and limited staffing and resources for this responsibility. This makes it difficult to be able to provide the necessary resources to address the alcohol related issues as they flare up at specific parks.
The Madison Police Department and Madison Parks recommends establishing a temporary No Alcohol Park rules will allow the City to be more responsive to concerns of alcohol usage in the parks system. Establishing No Alcohol Park rules is not the solution to the societal issue of alcohol abuse and misuse. However, it is important to be able to respond to concerns of park users in situations where a limited number of individuals exhibiting inappropriate behavior related to alcohol use are create an environment that keeps neighborhood residents park users from being able to enjoy the park for its master planned, scheduled, and/or permitted uses.
Whereas, the Pa...
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