City Backs Stricter Rules on Alcohol Licensing

Hoping to regulate the amount of alcohol sold in the city, a divided City Council has given preliminary approval to stricter requirements for permits.

For several months, city officials have been trying to find a fair way to curtail irresponsible behavior by stores and bars that sell alcoholic beverages to minors and overserve legal drinkers without punishing businesses that abide by the law.

Last week, the city even considered banning many new liquor licenses temporarily, but opted against it.

Still, council members remained at odds with each other and were not able to agree on how stringent they should be when issuing permits to potential alcohol outlets.

Mayor Peter Buffa and Councilman Gary Monahan dissented from the decision, which would require every new market--and possibly existing stores--to operate under a strict municipal conditional permit that could be easily revoked if violated.

Buffa and Monahan said the ordinance would create more bureaucracy rather than solve existing problems or ward off future ones.

But the council majority defended the ordinance as a way to strengthen the city’s control over who gets a permit. The city has lost recent fights to persuade the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control--which issues alcohol licenses--to deny permit transfers for alcohol stores and bars.

“ABC is no longer the watchdog for the concentration of alcohol in cities,” Councilwoman Heather K. Somers said.

Despite a decrease in the number of alcohol permits citywide--from 326 in 1989 to 284 in 1997--Somers contended that the city still has too many outlets that serve alcohol and that law-breaking vendors contribute to an unnecessary strain on city resources.

A second reading of the proposal is set for the council’s next meeting, in March.