Incentive OKd for Firms Not Reopening as Liquor Stores

There soon could be a little more Cheer in South Los Angeles, and a little less Night Train.

Former liquor stores that are rebuilt as other businesses--namely Laundromats--will receive financial breaks from the city in a compromise approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Spurred by community activists, the city has waged a campaign in recent months to discourage the rebuilding of liquor stores damaged during last year’s riots. But providing the merchants with alternatives, and financial incentives, has been a major sticking point.

“After telling many business owners we don’t want them to rebuild as liquor stores, I think we have a responsibility as a city to now provide an incentive for them to go into another kind of business,” said Councilman Michael Woo, who introduced the plan with Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.

The compromise--supported by the Asian Pacific Planning Council and the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment--would waive the sewer hookup charge for the next two years for any liquor store that is rebuilt as a self-service laundry.

Those charges typically run about $2,300 a machine--an amount that can add up quickly at the average 50-machine laundry.

“There is a real dearth of services in the inner city,” said Rocky Delgadillo, a program manager for RLA, formerly Rebuild L.A., which supports the plan. “The only businesses that are prominent there are liquor stores and funeral homes.”

Already, 10 liquor store owners say they are interested in converting to the laundry business, said Bong Hwan Kim, executive director of the Korean Youth and Community Center.

A Superior Court judge, meanwhile, ruled on Tuesday that the city’s campaign to impose strict regulations on store owners who want to rebuild is legally sound.

“The point is that (the city) has the authority to regulate land use, even though it cannot regulate licenses to sell liquor,” Judge Robert O’Brien wrote.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” said Stephen Jones, attorney for the merchants who filed suit, “but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”