Residents Seek Liquor License Denial

Residents and an elementary school principal Tuesday urged a state judge to deny a liquor license to a businessman who wants to move his liquor store slightly closer to their south Glendale neighborhood, saying they fear litter and traffic problems.

In a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Paul Hogan in Los Angeles, residents of the 400 block of West Colorado Street and the principal of Thomas Edison Elementary School protested a request by Sang Jong Cheun, owner of Colorado Liquor at 412 1/2 W. Colorado St., to have his liquor license renewed at a new location--470 W. Colorado St., about 475 feet to the west.

Cheun wants to move his business because his current lease is not being renewed, a business associate testified Tuesday. Protesters said they hope that denial of a liquor license will move the liquor store out of the neighborhood entirely.

They said that despite the short distance involved, Cheun’s move would add another liquor store to a half-block cluster that already has two convenience stores, a market, a drugstore and a restaurant that sell beer and wine.

Those businesses, as well as Cheun’s store and others farther east on Colorado, have contributed litter and traffic to the already congested neighborhood, said Dorothy Myers, who lives across the street from Cheun’s proposed location.

“We have enough trouble in the area already,” said Myers, who submitted to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control a petition signed by 35 residents opposing the move.

The move also may encourage people to drink in nearby Pacific Park and threaten or give liquor to children who attend Edison, located about two blocks away on Lomita Avenue, said Myers and Edison Principal Mary Arevalo.

Neither Cheun nor his attorney could be reached for comment. But an ABC investigator testified Tuesday that Glendale police had no objections to the move.

The ABC, which grants liquor licenses, in January denied Cheun’s request because of the potential effect on residents, Edison Elementary and Pacific Park, said Mary Ann Presswood, an ABC attorney.

Hogan is expected to make a decision within 30 days but can only issue a recommendation, which means that even if he rules in favor of Cheun, the department can stand by its denial, Presswood said. If the department’s final decision is unfavorable to Cheun, he can appeal to the department’s appeals board or take the issue to court, the attorney said.

Myesook Cheun, Sang Jong Cheun’s sister and a business associate, told Hogan that trash collection at the store’s new location would be diligent and that the store would strictly enforce the age limit for purchasing liquor.

But Arevalo told the judge that children walking to school would be endangered by the extra traffic and older students might be enticed to drink by the presence of an additional liquor store.

Scott Reese, assistant director of Glendale’s Parks and Recreation Department, testified against the request, saying the new location might increase litter and the number of people drinking in Pacific Park.