One community group failed to get a referendum on the Feb. 22 ballot that could have forced the closures of a liquor store in the Bronzeville community.
Mell
Monroe, president of the Bronzeville Area Residents’ & Commerce Council, a
non-profit organization that serves condominium owners, renters, homeowners and
commercial enterprises, spearheaded the referendum drive against Calumet Food
& Liquors. He said despite the 258 signatures turned in only 126 were
deemed valid, falling short of the 136 signatures needed from registered voters
living in the 11th precinct.
“(There
were) excellent lawyers who found technicalities for getting signatures tossed
out,” Monroe said. “(The lawyers) used technical things like a person signing
the petition using their nickname instead of their legal name as a way to
invalidate signatures.”
Apostolic
Faith Church, 3823 S. Indiana Ave., collected over 300 signatures for the
referendum to close Rothschild but at Defender press time it was not known how
many signatures were ruled valid.
Ald. Pat
Dowell (3rd) said she was disappointed the referendum did not make the February
22 ballot. But under a proposed agreement, liquor stores located in her ward
would stop selling such alcoholic drinks as Wild Irish Rose wine and Colt 45
malt liquor beer.
“I
supported (the referendum) and we will continue to have dialogue with the
owners to see if they will participant in the agreement,” she said. “These
alcoholic drinks are relatively cheap and easy to buy from simply begging on
the street for change. Patrons will purchase these drinks and when they are
done they would throw their bottles and cans on the ground littering up the
community.”
Still, Calumet
Food & Liquors, 315 E. 43rd St., and Rothschild Liquor Mart, 124 E.
Pershing Road, have voluntarily stopped selling inexpensive beer and wine.
In
October Calumet stopped selling wine and malt liquor beer including 40-ounces,
said store manager Kamel Fakhouri.
And while
Rothschild does still sell some inexpensive spirits, ultimately it plans to
stop once it liquidates its remaining inventory, said a Rothschild manager, who
declined to give his name.
The
community played a big part in getting these changes instituted, said Fakhouri.
“The
community made it clear that they did not want us to continue selling those
items so we stopped,” he told the Defender. “Did we take a hit in our business? Of course,
but we want to work with the community so we made the necessary adjustments.”
Fakhouri
said he would not be signing the voluntary agreement drafted by Dowell to stop
selling “cheap” liquors.
“She tried to close us down, so why sign
her agreement now?” said Fakhouri. “Especially since we did it on our own.”
The
agreement was presented to 12 liquor stores and nine agreed to participate. So
far, only four have actually signed the agreement, according to Dowell.
The nine
stores are Hyde Park Food & Liquor, 126 E. 51st St., Vegas Food &
Liquor, 330 E. Pershing Road, 200 Liquors, 204 E. 47th St., Zaid Certified
Foods, 513 E. 47th St., Sunrise Supermarket, 549 E. Pershing Road, Jardan Food
& Liquor, 317 E. Garfield Blvd., Red Apple Food & Liquor, 317 E. 51st
St., Aristo Food & Liquor, 307 E. 47th St., and Woods Foods & Liquor,
300 E. 35th St., which is Black-owned.
Rothschild,
located in the 33rd precinct, also declined to participate in Dowell’s liquor
agreement.
The next
election a referendum could be added to the ballot to shutter the stores is in
2012.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
