Thursday, October 20, 2011

ABRA approves Capitol Food Mart Class B license - with some restrictions




See this message from Bloomingdale resident Brendan L. Smith:

The ABC board finally released its decision today on the Capitol Food Mart alcohol license (1634 North Capitol Street NW) that was opposed by a large group of neighbors. I was the group representative at the protest hearing in July over concerns about public safety, loitering, trash, public urination, and other social problems relating to the overconcentration of stores selling alcohol in the area.

The ABC board acknowledged some of our concerns but approved the Class B beer-and-wine license anyway. However, the store is banned from selling single bottles and cans of beer or malt liquor, and the store owner promised to not devote more than 15 percent of the store`s floor space to alcohol sales. I hope those concessions will limit some of the negative impacts.

Somehow the board didn`t find there was an overconcentration of alcohol outlets, but the decision just mentions other Class B convenience stores, not the huge number of liquor stores already in the neighborhood. Thank you to everyone who took part in the protest! I think we can call it a success even if it wasn`t an outright victory.




....And see this brief message from Teri Janine Quinn, President of the Bloomingdale Civic Association:





Here is` the Capitol Food Mart order from ABRA granting a liquor license but prohibiting single sales. The order has been uploaded to the Bloomingdale Civic Association website http://www.bloomingdalecivic.org / .

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