Beast Blog

Report Your Local Liquor Store

I'm on the mailing list of my local neighborhood organization (The Russell, Oregon, and California Streets Neighborhood Organization). I recently received this email from the president:

Paul can you send an e-mail out to your group telling them that on April 26
citizens are being asked to work with Alcohol Beverage Control to visit the
99 liquor outlets in Berkeley and do an investigation regarding the
advertisement on windows. The law requires that only 1/3 of the window can
be covered. The persons who volunteer will receive a 30 minute training on
what to do.
From this information ABC will send to store owners a letter if they are in
violation. They will then be given a certain amount of time to clear up
the violation. If they have not complied the ABC investigators will go out
to the stores and issues a citation as they also investigate the store in
general.
The Lorin Safe group have already signed up and will be participating. We
hope we can get some folks from your area. Can you put the word out?
Thanks

Taj Johns,
Assistant to the City Manager
981-2491

One of the things I've learned in my ever-so-brief exposure to neighborhood politics and concerns is that liquor stores seem to be the banes of neighborhood happiness, acting as little more than magnets for loitering and drug dealing.

The discombobulation caused by liquor stores is quite surprising, because, well, hey, every once in a while I need a candy bar, and they're the best place to get them. Hell, since I was 5 or so, I did spot grocery shopping at our neighborhood liquor store (picking up milk, say).

Anyway, I won't be able to volunteer in this endeavor as I'll be out of town. But if I were around, I'd definitely consider it, just to see what such a thing is a like.

Also, note the mention of the "Lorin Safe Group." As I found out reading the history of Berkeley, Lorin was its own city before the 1900s, nestled between Berkeley and Oakland, before it became a part of Berkeley. It turns out that the name lives in in the neighborhood, through things like Lorin Station Apartments, and the Lorin District Neighborhood Association.

Me, I think "Lorin" sounds like something out of a Tolkien novel.