CITY, COUNTY WANT CRACKDOWN ON SALES OF FORTIFIED ALCOHOL

Since April, the taverns and grocery stores around Pioneer Square have
been asked to stop selling fortified wine and malt liquor to the
public inebriates weaving around downtown Seattle. By most accounts,
there's been some progress.

But despite the so-called "Good Neighbor" policy, public drunkenness
remains a problem in downtown areas like "Muscatel Park," as the patch
of green next to the King County Courthouse is derisively dubbed.

King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Paul Schell are
urging the state to take aim at the problem.

At a joint news conference yesterday, Sims and Schell urged the state
Liquor Control Board to designate neighborhoods like Pioneer Square as
"alcohol-impact areas" and crack down on the groceries and taverns
that sell fortified wine.

Their hope is that the Liquor Control Board will make Seattle's
voluntary prohibition on selling such beverages mandatory in some
areas of the state.

Under their proposal, tougher conditions could be imposed on
businesses seeking liquor licenses within the targeted areas, such as
having earlier last calls than similar businesses in other
neighborhoods. And for the first time, cities could ask the state to
revoke a liquor license for contributing to drunken disturbances in
the area.

Under state liquor regulations, the board does not bar alcoholic
products legally sold in the U.S. and doesn't hold sellers of alcohol
responsible for what goes on outside their doors.

The joint appearance of Sims and Schell was timed in advance of three
public hearings the Liquor Control Board is holding on the proposed
regulations around the state this week. The board may adopt the
regulations as early as March.

`Alcohol-impact areas'

Under the proposed regulations, the state's cities would nominate
neighborhoods for the board to declare "alcohol-impact areas," but
would have to show that public inebriates are lowering the quality of
life.

Schell mentioned Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill and the University
District as possibilities.

The changes, if adopted, would send liquor stores a clear message, said
Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran: "That with a liquor license comes
responsibility: a responsibility not to sell cheap booze to street drunks
dying in the gutter."

Sims and Schell used softer language, saying they hoped making it
harder to buy cheap alcohol would push more street people to quit drinking.

About 600 businesses around Pioneer Square signed the "Good Neighbor"
pledge, but it appears many of them are sticking only to the letter of
the agreement.

Outside the Pioneer Square Metro bus station, a 50-ish homeless man
who called himself Larry said yesterday it has indeed become harder to
find fortified wines. But to some who drink in Pioneer Square, the
idea of stopping the flow of alcohol is ridiculous, and they believe,
the plan is less about getting them to go to alcohol treatment than to
get them out of the path of development.

"It'll get us to stop drinking . . . downtown," Larry chuckled,
implying they'd just go someplace else.

"They're trying to renovate the downtown, and they're trying to get
rid of us, little by little, without doing a sweep," he said. But
Schell said the city would try to designate any area where street

inebriates gather a new "alcohol-impact area."

Amy Brackenbury, lobbyist for the Washington Association of
Neighborhood Stores, opposes the proposed changes, calling them an
unnecessary burden considering many stores are trying to be good neighbors.

Sims says he has no sympathy for businesses, "that sell that poison to
the ill. It's inhuman."