Liquor Store Owners Agree to Extensive Sales Limits

More than 20 liquor store owners announced Tuesday that they have agreed to comply with a set of voluntary guidelines designed to control drug- and alcohol-related crime and traffic accidents in the east San Fernando Valley.

The 16 guidelines were developed in meetings between Merchants for a Better Community, a group of East Valley merchants that includes many of the liquor store owners, and representatives of the San Fernando Valley Community Advisory Board.

The rules call for the liquor stores to limit the hours in which they sell alcoholic beverages, stop selling some common items useful to the drug trade and even refrain from selling candy before school.

“We have to control the alcohol sales in the community,” said Fred Taylor, owner of a religious bookstore and chairman of the advisory board. “And to do that, we have to cooperate with the liquor stores.”

Alcoholism Problems

The 22 grocery and liquor store owners, out of about 70 in the East Valley, agreed to stop selling alcohol at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at midnight Fridays and Saturdays. The merchants also agreed to stop selling “short dogs,” small $1.25 bottles of wine that Taylor said add to the community’s alcoholism problems.

Beer is to be sold in quantities of two cans or more, and all alcoholic beverages are to be sold in clear plastic bags.

“That’s so a guy can’t stand on the corner and drink beer or wine,” Taylor said. “If he does, the police will see him.”

Pacoima grocery and liquor store owner Samuel Rose, one of 10 store owners who attended a Tuesday press conference announcing the guidelines, said the new rules will not cut into revenues.

“You’re going to make more money,” he said. “Now more families will come in. There are no liquor stores any more. We live from the groceries we sell.”

The liquor store owners said they would scrub graffiti from their stores, pick up litter from their parking lots and discourage loitering. Those who agree to comply with the guidelines will receive window decals, Taylor said.

Taylor said other restrictions are designed to keep liquor stores from becoming hangouts for drug dealers.

The rules bar the selling of cigarette papers because they are used to roll marijuana as well as tobacco, Taylor said. Balloons are prohibited because they are used by heroin addicts. And public telephones will be removed from outside the stores because dealers use them to communicate with their customers, he said.

The sale of candy between 8 and 10 a.m. weekdays is to be banned because it contributes to the “cycle of addiction,” Taylor said.

“The kids get high on sugar before they get to school,” he said. “When they’re hyper, it’s a problem for the teachers.”

Series of Efforts

The newly issued guidelines are the latest in a series of efforts by community groups and police to control East Valley alcohol sales.

The community groups won important victories in May and June when the Los Angeles City Council and city zoning officials refused to allow two Pacoima gas stations to sell beer and wine and imposed restrictions on the operation of three Pacoima liquor stores.

In July, 22 clerks at East Valley liquor stores were arrested on suspicion of selling alcohol to underage volunteers working with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police Sgt. Dennis Zine said community and police efforts have helped reduce traffic accidents in the Foothill Division, which includes the East Valley.

During the first six months of the year, there were 13 fatal traffic accidents in the division, down from 18 the same period last year, he said.

“I think it’s the culmination of all the programs,” he said. “If we work together, we can save some lives and save some people from going to the hospital.”