The Skewed Licensing Formula : South L.A.: The state sets countywide density limits for liquor outlets; here, that’s unjust.

The resistance of so many people in South Los Angeles to the rebuilding of corner liquor stores is not a matter of black-Korean conflict, as portrayed in the media. It reflects a long-standing fight by residents to remedy the effects of a loophole in state regulatory policy that has turned many neighborhoods in Los Angeles into outdoor bars.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses liquor outlets according to a formula that limits their density. But some South L.A. neighborhoods, including the one around the so-called flash point at Normandie and Florence avenues, have a density of liquor stores that is twice the state limit.

This situation is the result of a loophole created by the ABC’s formula, which sets the density limit by dividing a county’s population by the total number of outlets in the county. This method may be effective in small counties, but it is entirely inappropriate in Los Angeles County, where extremely high concentrations of liquor stores in one area can be offset by a low concentration of liquor stores in another area.

What makes South Los Angeles attractive for liquor markets is worth considering. These stores usually look like corner groceries, a masquerade assisted by the large supermarket chains. Their unwillingness to locate in the area has made selling groceries at inflated prices extremely profitable for the liquor markets.

While price policies and corporate neglect can be considered part of the cost of maintaining a free market, the immediate issue for South Los Angeles is the effect of overconcentration of alcohol outlets on public safety. There is a large body of research relating the density of liquor outlets to crime and accident rates. Simply stated, the more outlets, the more homicides, rapes, drunk-driving arrests, accidents and domestic violence.

To ignore this evidence and the potential for rectifying an unjust situation that has cost so many people their health, their families and their lives would be a bureaucratic act of violence against the South Los Angeles community.