How would you like to pay another nickel for every beer you buy? And how would you feel if the UF-Georgia game wasn't played in Jacksonville anymore?
These and other topics came up at Monday's meeting of the Community Alcohol Coalition, a group of UF, Santa Fe College and city officials that periodically meet to discuss alcohol policy.
The group, formed in January of 2005 by UF President Bernie Machen, includes Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan and representatives from local law enforcement agencies.
Officials complained during the meeting that state laws and Florida's powerful alcohol lobby are preventing the city from cracking down on underage drinking.
Liquor licenses, issued through Florida's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, are hard to revoke, officials said, which forces them to find other ways to police the problem.
That is one reason, officials said, the city is pursuing an ordinance that would ban underage patrons from bars, clubs and restaurants that rack up too many alcohol violations.
But UF Student Body President Kevin Reilly said he thought the ordinance was misguided because it would only spread the problem to other areas of the city and might be unevenly enforced.
"I can't remember the last time I was at Chili's having a beer and I saw a member of the Gainesville Police walking through checking IDs," he said. "I can't remember the last time I was at the Swamp having a beer and didn't see a member of the Gainesville Police checking IDs."
Officials also discussed the possibility of levying a per-drink tax on alcohol.
The city proposed the idea to lawmakers in its 2009 state legislative agenda, Hanrahan said. After the meeting, she said the proposed legislation does not have a sponsor yet and would likely not have a chance of being adopted until 2010, if at all.
She said the tax would likely be about 5 cents per drink and could bring in about $10 million to $12 million to the city, all of which would go to fund things such as police salaries and benefits, increased enforcement of midtown and downtown bars, alcohol education and DUI prevention efforts.
Machen supported the drink tax, before proposing an idea of his own - trying to make the UF-Georgia game safer by encouraging officials in Jacksonville to implement tactics used by the Gainesville Police Department.
Hanrahan, who is in favor of alternating the annual game between Gainesville and Athens, home of the University of Georgia, said if Machen is trying to convince Jacksonville to give up the game, it may be a tough sell.
"I'm sure Jacksonville desperately wants to keep the game there, so don't expect them to roll out the red carpet for you," she said.
