ANC Committee Seeks Comments On Standards for Stores Selling Liquor

ANC 6A Alcohol Beverage Licensing Committee Seeks Resident Input on Community Standards for Liquor Stores—Written Comments Accepted until March 15

On Tuesday, the Alcohol Beverage Licensing Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6A held a meeting to seek input from the community on the possibility of creating community standards for liquor stores. Committee members included Chairman Michael Kuiken, Richard Sundberg, Brenda Artis, Charles White and Wes Grooms.

The question posed was: "Should there be community standards? If so, then what should those standards be?"

Tuesday's meeting was the first of three meetings that the committee plans to hold on the topic. The first meeting sought input from the community. The next one, on March 16, will solicit input from merchants and D.C. officials. A third will solicit input from community associations.

ANC Commissioner Jessica Ward opened the community comments by stating her concern that a voluntary agreement would interfere with protestants who have been petitioning the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board since last summer. She also suggested using a moratorium standard instead of a voluntary agreement and urged the committee to redirect its energy towards a moratorium, which would be valid for no more than five years and could be re-assessed at that time.

ANC Commissioner Joseph Fengler argued that it was necessary to take the pulse of the community, asking the community whether the community wanted minimum standards that would be applied to all Class A and Class Bs. (Class A licenses permit the sale of liquor, wine and beer; Class B licenses permit the sale of only wine and beer.) He said that the community may decide on a moratorium but should only do that after the community has discussed their goals.

A resident from 13th & F Streets NE commented that he had seen a lot of transition in the neighborhood. He said that a certain establishment on 13th Street NE has contributed to the community, and he does not see why this establishment is being protested. Drug deals on the street are a police matter and not the responsibility of the person running the store. He further stated that the 13th Street store should be a model for other community businesses. He said he was not familiar with other establishments.

ANC Commissioner Nick Alberti said that he too had been in the community for 20 years. He said that there has been some confusion over what a community can do to promote standards for establishments. He said that standards could stipulate what types of products are sold to promote the best interests of the community. This is particularly true for Class B establishments. What are we expecting those establishments to be like, he asked —grocery stores or really liquor stores selling a few snacks?

A second resident at 13th & F Streets NE asked what the purpose of the meeting was and then asked if the ANC could enforce minimum standards. Commissioner Kuiken said that the ANC's job was not to enforce the guidelines, but that the ANC would establish guidelines for drawing up voluntary agreements with stores. That way, one store would not have an advantage over another. When it came time to renew licenses in 2005, the ANC would approach each liquor store and would use its weight within the D.C. government to protest the license if the store had not complied with the community's minimum standards.

After voicing his support for the establishment on 13th Street, the resident said that he assumed that no one is happy with the situation now because this meeting had been convened. He emphasized that a system needed to be set up where everyone in the community knows what is happening and any new standards would serve the people in the community.

Mr. Kuiken said that if the community decided to have community standards, there would be five additional meetings to discuss those standards.

Mrs. Lee, the owner of N-A Minit on 13th Street, said that she did not think it is right for the ANC to dictate to business owners whether to sell singles. She said that she did not think that people standing in front of the store reflect a problem with selling singles — most of the trash that she picks up, she said, were potato chip wrappers and other things.

Nick Alberti said that a set of minimum standards would be beneficial to business owners because they would know what the community expects. The community also would know what is reasonable to protest and could measure their concerns against the standards.

Mr. Kuiken reiterated that merchants would have the first priority to speak at a separate meeting for merchants. The meeting, which will be open to the community, will be on March 16. Merchants can submit as much written testimony as they want to and will be allotted around five minutes to speak, depending on how many people are seeking to speak. Residents will be able to speak afterwards, for around two minutes.

The second resident from 13th & F again emphasized that the committee needed to do more reach out to the residents in the community. He argued that the committee would have to take this issue to the community rather than expecting people to come to them. He suggested that the committee target the churches in the area.

Mr. Kuiken said that the committee welcomes community input and would gladly have a second meeting for residents.

Charles White, a committee member, said that he was very concerned about some of the stores. He said the stores at a minimum should keep top papers out of the sight of children, and ideally should not to sell them at all. He noted that several of the stores in the area are selling single cigarettes for 25 cents apiece, though it is illegal to sell unpackaged cigarettes.

One of the residents at 13th & F noted that the establishment on 13th Street did not sell top papers. A resident who walked in late stated that she was at the meeting in support of N-A Minit.

Many of the people who attended were confused about what the meeting was attempting to accomplish. Much of the meeting thus was spent attempting to clarify its purpose rather than receiving community input.

The record is open until March 15 for written or oral community input. For comments, contact committee chairman Michael Kuiken, at Michael_Kuiken@hotmail.com or 369-0735). There were not many people at the meeting, so the committee did not receive a lot of input from residents and encourages residents to submit their comments and suggestions.

The ANC commissioners for our area are Jessica Ward (396-3193), for the area north of the middle of E Street, and Michael Musante (548-2542), for the area south of that line. §