It's Friday night and the South Salt Lake City Councilman and I are cruising State Street, counting taverns.

The job is harder than it sounds. Neon is just as likely to mean a tattoo parlor or payday-loan business. We count nine bars in 18 blocks in Salt Lake City, 13 in South Salt Lake, two in Murray, five in Midvale.

South Salt Lake leaders figure they are suffering so the rest of us can plop down in a booth and buy a pint.

A few years ago, the City Council capped the number of taverns at 15, hoping to lose some through attrition. But only three have been shuttered as bar owners transferred their liquor licenses to new owners. So on Wednesday night, the council will consider dropping that cap again - to 10, or even five.

"I don't think any of us are trying to infringe on people's right to drink. And we're not trying to prohibit people from making a living," says Siwik. "But common sense says this many bars is nuts."

To make the case, city officials have compiled statistics:

They point to crime - 391 emergency calls from the bars and 285 driving under the influence arrests in 2006. But those numbers include medical calls such as heart attacks. And it's not clear whether the drunken drivers are leaving bars or homes.

Another analysis compares FBI crime stats for the same year. South Salt Lake logged just over 4,900 crimes. With a population of 22,000, that's one crime for every 4.5 people. In Salt Lake City, population 181,700, that rate is 1 for every 5.4 people. Bar owners say meth houses are a bigger crime problem.

Finally, and most compellingly, South Salt Lake resorts to the simplest comparison - the number of bars per resident. With 25 taverns and private clubs, the city has one bar for every 958 people. The next closest is Salt Lake City, with 138 bars, brewpubs and private clubs - one for every 1,317 people. West Valley City and Sandy have 10 private clubs between them - but no taverns.

"All the beautiful people aren't flocking to South Salt Lake for the night life," says City Attorney Dave Carlson. "Why have we become the preferred location? Is it lower property costs? Is South Salt Lake the way it is because of our bars?"

It's a complex question with answers in 50 years of urban and suburban development, highway building and Salt Lake County's cycle of incorporation and annexation - half of South Salt Lake's State Street bars are on the stretch originally managed by the county.

Whatever the cause of South Salt Lake's de facto bar zone, it's obviously out of balance with the city's population.

As long as the city allows existing bars to remain in business, they can send new tavern owners to Draper and Sandy and South Jordan and West Valley City - just to be fair.

walsh@

sltrib.com