"Liquor for Sale”
"24-Packs To Go.” These are some of the banners and liquor advertisements that are being splashed across buildings. It creates an image that many people have of the Southside and for good reason. Lately, businesses and advertisers want to convince the world that because we are now predominately a Hispanic community, we need to have alcohol with our meat—it is our culture. As evidence of this, the State Liquor Board granted a liquor license to a "convenience" market located not more than 50 feet away from a Circle K that sells alcohol.
The face of a once quiet and close-knit community has drastically changed. Dropout rates are increasing, property values are being compromised and poverty and crime are on the rise. Add to this mix, the near epidemic numbers of diabetes, domestic violence, and other chronic and societal diseases associated with alcohol that this community faces and one will begin to understand why we challenge the over abundance of so many liquor establishments in close proximity to one another.
For years, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association’s former president, Manual Herrera Jr., fought the battle on behalf of the community and prett y much of it solo. First, he wrote lett ers to the Mayor and Council, then, to the State Liquor Board. Often, he would make the two-hour drive to Phoenix to testify why a liquor license application was not good for the local community. And, he was successful to a point. The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association has in excess of 20 active liquor licenses within its boundaries. We know it could have been worse. One could actually lose count beyond our boundaries.
Over Service
"Over service" means different things to different people. For us, "over service" is over saturation of liquor establishments. The Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association, at last count, has about 40 liquor licenses within one mile of their boundaries. They have battled several bars riddled with illegal activities and decided no more. The Fairgrounds and Sunnyside Neighborhoods share a common boundary line.
When Sunny’s applied for a liquor license application, they decided to recruit members from the Southside Neighborhood Association Presidential Partnership (SNAPP), a group of about 30 Southside neighborhoods that formed in 1996 under the motto: Creating Positive Change. The "convenience" market needed supporters to help them seek a denial at the City and State level. Although SNAPP has remained successful for many years, it is mainly at the local level. The real battle is at the State level.
If we have any hope for improving economic development, curbing crime, reducing dropout rates, and improving the overall health of the community, we must continue to work not only with elected offi cials, neighborhoods, local agencies and public health educators and practitioners, but we must also recruit the support of businesses in the community.
By working together and partnering with local businesses, one group was successful in a recent battle at a State Liquor Board hearing that denied the liquor license for Club Turbulence, a Gentleman’s Club that is located at the northern entrance of Tucson’s International Airport. The area is already "over serviced" with liquor establishments. The application denied was relocating one that was sure to negatively impact the economic development planned for the area and, otherwise, encourage more intoxicated drivers through neighborhood streets and surrounding schools.
To become part of the solution, to help make positive change, and to become better informed, come participate in an upcoming Liquor License workshop.
- Yolanda Herrera
For more information and to register, contact: ACUInteriors@aol.com Yolanda Herrera is the current president of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association, Tucson’s largest registered and most active association. A fifth-generation Tucsonan, Yolanda has been a Tucson Citizen monthly columnist (Perspective section) for nearly four years and is published every fourth week.
|
