Santa Ana considers limiting liquor licenses

At the urging of a nonprofit health organization, Santa Ana officials are considering a proposal to limit liquor licenses in poor neighborhoods.

Although the number of businesses licensed to sell liquor in Santa Ana has dropped in the last decade, residents and community activists say impoverished neighborhoods are still swamped with bars and with stores selling alcohol.

Leah Fraser, director of policy for the nonprofit Orange County organization Latino Health Access, said the city should place a moratorium on new liquor licenses in the census tracts with the lowest household incomes.

“There’s concern in these neighborhoods that they are inundated with liquor stores,” Fraser said. “The more liquor stores, the more drunks hanging out. It’s a risk for their families.”

City Manager David N. Ream said the Latino Health Access proposal might be worthy but expressed doubts about whether a ban could legally be imposed by census tract. The city attorney and planners are reviewing the idea, he said.

“There is a question of what we can do and not do,” said Ream, adding that the number of licenses was already in decline.

Councilman Sal Tinajero said he hoped the council would be able to approve the moratorium.

“We’re a product of our environment,” he said. “To have that temptation in a neighborhood simply changes the quality of life.”

Councilman David Benavidez said he was concerned about liquor sales to minors but questioned whether a moratorium was necessary.

Police investigative specialist Yolanda Pena, whose work focuses on the city’s liquor licenses, said a ban would create an unfair burden on neighborhoods not affected by the moratorium. Besides, she said, the city has greatly reduced the number of liquor stores by enacting stringent guidelines to gain city approval or license renewal.

“I’m very proud of what we have done,” Pena said. “We used to have a downtown lined with bars for blocks.”

Between 1990 and 2006, the number of liquor licenses in the city dropped from 517 to 382. Fraser points out that the number has slightly risen since 2001, when it was 368.

Fraser and researchers from UC Irvine completed a study in 2006 that showed that Santa Ana’s lowest-income neighborhood had nearly 19 businesses licensed to sell liquor per square mile; the wealthiest had about seven.

In 2005, the state established a moratorium in cities where there was more than one for every 2,500 residents. That meant that cites such as Costa Mesa, Fullerton and Stanton could not approve more permits. But in cities under the limit, individual neighborhoods could have a high concentration of bars, stores and restaurants selling liquor.

Latino Health Access’s proposed moratorium would cover the city’s poorest neighborhood, an area roughly bordered by Warner Avenue, the Costa Mesa Freeway, the Santa Ana Freeway, 17th Street and Bristol and Chestnut avenues. The median household income there is $36,712.

Maria de los Angeles Ruiz, a 34-year-old mother of three, said four liquor stores were within walking distance of her home near Halladay and 1st streets. She fears they foster public drunkenness and has seen boys as young as 10 drinking beer.

“This is bad for our neighborhood, and we need a solution to make a change,” she said.

jennifer.delson@latimes.com