Residents and business owners in five areas of Kansas City that are under consideration for a ban on the sale of small bottles of alcohol seem split on whether the measure would be effective.
Liquor store owners said they supply a service to the community and shouldn’t be punished by a new ordinance that covers half pints, nips, minis, and airplane bottles of hard liquor, along with malt beverages and beer sold in 40-ounce containers or less.
But many of the legacy minority groups said they support the plan that aims to fight violence, loitering and litter around the many liquor stores in their neighborhoods.
After a three-plus-hour meeting Tuesday, Kansas City Council member Andrea Bough, chair of the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, held the ordinance until next week, saying she hoped to work out the many questions about the plan.
The plan would apply to designated areas in town, including the Prospect corridor, Independence Avenue, midtown, downtown and the Blue Ridge corridor. Grocery stores would be exempt under the plan. It was sponsored by Mayor Quinton Lucas and council member Melissa Robinson.
Many speakers at the committee's public hearing pointed back at city leaders, saying they weren’t doing enough to truly fill the needs of their neighborhoods. Deborah Love, a 60-year-old retiree who lives on the east side, said the city needs to invest in condos, strip malls, mental health services and better opportunities for children.
“You guys are focusing on the wrong thing,” Love said. “Economic development is what we need in order to stem the crime now.”
Kay White, owner of WW Crown Liquor & Grocery at 27th Street and Benton Boulevard, said the real problem is the city allowing houses to sit abandoned and large lots to go untended, where people congregate and crime bubbles up.
“Where is the code enforcement, our policing when we call for help?” White said. “Where is our community when we say, ‘Board up these houses, go and regulate the houses and the people that abandoned them’?”
But other neighborhood groups welcomed any help with the problem areas, including the 38th Street Task Force, which covers an area in midtown that includes the Valentine and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods.
“We noticed that during cleanups, much of the trash we collect consists of airplane-sized liquor bottles. We suspect these bottles are responsible for the groups of people who tend to linger near certain businesses,” Cheryl Baird, chair of the 38th Street Task Force, wrote in a letter.
Frank Fazzino, co-owner of The Top Spot Convenience Store on 27th Street and Brooklyn Avenue, said he doesn’t want violence and other problems near his store because it drives away customers. But it’s a small group of repeat offenders who cause most of the problems, he said.
“The mayor’s soft-handed approach, focusing on opportunities rather than consequences, simply doesn’t work. It fails to stop the same people from causing the same harm over and over again,” Fazzino said.
What would be effective, he said, is to enforce a zero-tolerance policy for the problems, then prosecute and jail the repeat offenders.
Gwen Grant, speaking for The Urban Summit, a coalition of the city’s legacy minority groups, said she supports the ban. There are far too many liquor stores in these neighborhoods, she said, and the areas need to be cleaned up so they can attract good housing and other amenities.
“This is an environmental control issue,” Grant said. “They can still get small bottles, they just can’t get them at this location.”
