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A few weeks ago I called the City of Berkeley about a mattress illegally dumped in front of my apartment, which was promptly removed within eight hours. In late October Berkeley fixed another problem after neighbors complained—the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) declared Dwight Way Liquors a public nuisance and ordered its closure (‘Liquor Store Declared Public Nuisance, Ordered to Close,” Daily Planet, Nov. 1). Cited for 32 violations, this alcohol outlet was disciplined for operating after hours, selling alcohol to intoxicated persons, public drinking by minors, excessive littering, prostitution, vandalism, illegal drug activity, noise, the harassment of passersby, double-parking, and loitering.  

Only this time, the problem wasn’t fixed in a day. Resident complaints to police, city council members, and other city employees began at least four years ago. By some resident accounts, neighbors contacted the city about this problem as early as 1997. In addition to the calls, written complaint forms were submitted to the city no fewer than four times between the summer of 2001 and the present. Had the residents’ calls been about mattresses, hundreds of them would have been removed in the time it took for decisive legal action to be taken against this store. 

Dwight Way Liquors is not unique in fostering havoc in south Berkeley neighborhoods. Black and White Liquors’ night clerk was recently arrested for buying stolen liquor, and a cache of illegal weapons was found in the apartment above the store. On Oct. 27, 2001 (the four-year anniversary of last week’s vote), ZAB voted for strict regulations of Brother’s Liquor, which had been a neighborhood magnet for criminal activity for years. Within the six-month period prior to this vote, police had received 200 calls from residents, and arrests were made at or near the store for drug-dealing, public drunkenness, and creating a disturbance. According to some residents, regular calls to the police that began in 1992 were stepped up 1999 along with petitions and at least 150 complaints to council members, police, and the mayor. During this period retaliatory behavior was not uncommon; one resident’s garden was ruined. 

In addition to attracting problem behaviors, these businesses have in common their close proximity to other liquor stores. Dwight Way Liquors, for example, lies across the street from another alcohol outlet on Sacramento Avenue at Ashby. Walk southward down the street and you’ll count about ten liquor stores before reaching Alcatraz Avenue.  

Studies show that high concentrations of alcohol outlets are related to high rates of assaultive violence, violent crime, accidents, drunk driving, traffic crashes, and other problems. Nationwide, liquor stores are overly concentrated in lower-income, predominately African American communities which bear a disproportionate burden of problems that come with the proliferation of these businesses. The high density of alcohol outlets in these neighborhoods is a symptom of economic decline, and the problems that accumulate around these outlets exacerbate this decline. According to Oakland’s Prevention Institute, easy access to alcohol provided at high-density alcohol outlets can result in increased alcohol consumption, often leading to problem behaviors. “Problem” alcohol outlets directly or indirectly contribute to social disorganization and residential instability. 

It is not “pro-business” to allow the continued operation of liquor stores that attract criminal behavior. The disturbances associated with these public nuisances can create blight, cause people to move away, make areas less attractive to new businesses. Beaten down by the seemingly futile quest to transform their neighborhood into a safer, healthier place to live, four ex-neighbors of Dwight Way Liquors have moved away since 2003. The exodus continues. Four others who were around for last week’s vote expect to leave the neighborhood within the next two years. Despite the order of closure, residents express scant optimism that Dwight Way Liquors will close anytime soon. On the day that I write this, the store is still selling alcohol. 

To be fair, the City of Berkeley is making a concerted effort with limited resources to maneuver through a Byzantine web of state and local zoning, business use, and nuisance abatement laws to go after problem alcohol outlets and help residents take back their communities. However, the city currently relies on a resident-driven complaint system which seems to require an avalanche of calls to police and others before decisive disciplinary actions are taken and enforced.  

It’s time for the city to move away from a complaint-driven process to a proactive regulation, monitoring, and enforcement framework for dealing with these public nuisances. The city council should adopt a streamlined policy using zoning law to regulate alcohol retailers. The policy would require alcohol outlets to operate under transparent and enforceable operating standards that businesses and residents can easily understand. A unit comprised of police and other government staff should be solely dedicated to enforce this policy. Rather than relying on community members as complaint-generators, the process would include an active role for residents in the decision-making and enforcement process. This proposed regulation would provide for the assessment of annual fees to alcohol retailers to fund enforcement, outreach, education, and monitoring activities. Overall, this policy would allow the city to move more quickly to discipline problem alcohol outlets. 

The next time a resident places a call to the city about alcohol outlet sales to minors or other liquor store-related public disturbances, we cannot afford to wait another decade for the city to take definitive, substantive disciplinary action. It’s now time for the Berkeley City Council to put a comprehensive policy in place that effectively disciplines alcohol outlets that are public nuisances. Let’s turn the vision of living in a peaceful, safe, and healthy neighborhood into a reality for each and every Berkeley resident.  

Robin Dean is a Berkeley resident and candidate for a master’s degree in Public Health at UC Berkeley.