GO SLOW ON ALCOHOL SALES REFORM

Last week, the Glendale City Council agreed to consider an overhaul of
the way in which the city regulates the sale of alcohol.

At the root of the recommendations made to the council are some good
intentions and at least one that is questionable.

Consistency in the way in which different neighborhoods and types of
retailers are dealt with is a good thing.

So is the idea that there would be some recourse, for instance, if a
person who receives a license to operate a sports bar eventually winds
up running a full-blown nightclub.

What is questionable is the automatic assumption that curbing the sale
of liquor in certain neighborhoods would lead to a reduction in crime
and the flowering of civic life.

In a report prepared for the City Council, officials have noted that
crime rates are higher in Glendale census tracts that also happen to
have a high concentration of bars and liquor stores.

There is more than a nugget of truth to the stereotype that doomed
neighborhoods are characterized by a proliferation of seedy bars and
liquor stores with garish signs.

It is wrong, however, to conclude that poverty, high unemployment,
inadequate housing, high crime rates and excessive drug use -- all
part of what we think of when we think of declining neighborhoods --
are the result of convenient access to alcohol.

Nor can we conclude that many of the signs of a neighborhood on the
rebound will appear if bars and liquor stores disappear.

If it were that easy to halt the decline of neighborhoods, liquor
sales would have been halted long ago. The root causes of poverty,
unemployment and crime -- far more difficult to deal with than liquor
licenses -- need to be addressed first.

City officials want and deserve a consistent policy they can rely on
when it comes to regulating liquor sales, but it should not be sold to
the public as a way to clean up questionable neighborhoods.

Before government makes economic development more difficult in certain
neighborhoods, it should keep in mind that not every business person
who wants to open up shop on the bad side of town is a vulture.

Some actually want to help their communities.