Booze Ban Has Slim Poll Edge in San Marino

According to local legend and lore, sometime in the 1930s and 1940s this city said no to bars and no to drinking in restaurants.

The theory back then, Mayor Paul C. Crowley said, was that if San Marino permitted eating establishments to serve alcoholic beverages, the race-track crowd from Santa Anita in nearby Arcadia might stop by for drinks, get rowdy and disrupt San Marino’s quietude.

The results of a new, unscientific survey conducted by the city indicates that many residents favor maintaining the prohibition. But there is also some sentiment for change.

In a citywide survey covering a broad range of issues, 51% of the residents who responded said they want to keep the prohibition. But 43% favored a change that would allow wine and beer to be served in restaurants. The other 6% had no opinion.

Survey forms were sent to all 4,500 households in the city, and 723, or about 16%, responded.

“For this unscientific approach, it’s a fairly close vote,” City Manager John E. Nowak said. “So it’s still an issue that’s up in the air.”

Apparently, Crowley said, the city mood is “swinging a little bit more toward tolerance. But I think we’re not going to change (the law) unless we get a mandate to change.”

Nonetheless, Nowak said: “There may be a feeling of ‘relooking’ at that restriction. Some people thought that (the vote) would have been much more overwhelming against (allowing liquor).”

City officials say the alcohol results are among the most significant in the survey, which was conducted recently by the city’s Strategic Planning Committee.

The overall results, Nowak said, show “basically that the community is pleased with the services being provided.”

In the law enforcement category, 93% of the respondents said they were satisfied. Nearly a third said they felt “very safe” being alone on the streets at night, and 50% said they felt “fairly safe.”

These answers, according to Police Chief Jack D. Yeske, need to be understood in context. San Marino has had only three homicides in the last three decades, and usually the most serious crime there is burglary.

Nowak said one surprise he found in the survey was that some people said the city should provide more recreation opportunities for adults.

Another insight for city officials came in answer to a question about renovating houses in the city, where, by law, the only residential housing permitted is single-family.

Of the respondents, 62% said they had remodeled or added onto their houses in the last five years, and 27% said they planned to make similar improvements in the next two years.

“We knew there was lot of activity,” Nowak said, but “it was surprising to see how much.”

SAN MARINO SURVEY

Satisfied Not Satisfied No Opinion Residents Most Satisfied With: General law enforcement 93 3 4 Traffic law enforcement 86 7 7 Street sweeping 83 13 4 Park facilities upkeep 82 4 14 City library 81 9 10 Residents Least Satisfied With: Traffic signals and flow 57 36 7 Building permit process 39 26 35 Code enforcement 45 26 29 Zoning enforcement 51 23 26 Sidewalk upkeep 72 20 8