The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the city is looking to get rid of liquor stores that are “nestled among homes” in a new rezoning effort citing that alcohol and liquor stores lead to higher amounts of violent crime. What’s next, eliminating the ability to buy a 17oz sodas at convenient stores? This is another case of this city and state making an unfair ruling based on blanket assumptions. We recently saw the state discriminate against Pit Bulls claiming they are all inherently dangerous, apparently now so are liquor stores.
Several liquor stores in South Baltimore are on the chopping block including Ronnies and Hanover St. Liquors in South Baltimore, Jack’s Liquors in Sharp-Leadenhall, Mack’s An and Cut Rate Liquors in Pigtown, and Ridgely Mini-Mart in Ridgely’s Delight. While some liquor stores may be a problem, it is not true for all of them.
Living near Ronnies and Hanover St. Liquors, I can attest that neither is a problem and that both are a valuable asset to the neighborhood. Not only are the families that run these places hard working, but they couldn’t be nicer people.
I’d like these politicians to try having a get together and carrying packaged goods seven blocks back to their house by foot because there is no parking by their house. Or how about putting two cases of beer on a city bus or Circulator where sometimes there isn’t even room to sit down.
Instead of crushing more than one hundred small businesses based on a study performed by Johns Hopkins, who is by no means a small business, how about you do some actual work. Talk to neighborhood associations, talk to police officers, talk to neighbors, talk to the actual liquor store owners. By the way, we also have a very well-paid City Council comprised of members who are supposed to know every single in and out of their district. How about we eliminate this nonsense and have these council members address their constituents, neighborhood associations and police officers and figure out what liquor stores actually create a problem and leave the stores that do not alone.
Whatever comes out of this effort, the damage has already been done. In this society we have what is called a SLAP lawsuit which is essentially when a more powerful company files meaningless lawsuits knowing the legal fees will bankrupt smaller businesses. Some famous local cases include Daniel Snyder vs. City Paper and Belinda Conaway vs. blogger Adam Meister.
Now these businesses will have to get lawyers to defend themselves, which will probably put some of them out of business. Fearing legal fees, selling their business is now no longer an option either. If anyone has ever tried selling real estate or a business before, you know that it doesn’t take much to make a property hard to sell. With the potential for these businesses being closed, they now currently have zero value until they are officially cleared. The Baltimore Sun is also reporting that more than 90% of the city’s liquor stores are Korean owned, a community which now feels targeted.
I sure hope the city reevaluates this effort and does their due diligence. It’s not fair to take someone’s legal business away just because of a study. What’s fair is doing some actual work and only punishing those who deserve it, not everyone.
Please let us know which stores are being unfairly targeted and we’ll keep you posted on how we can voice our support for these businesses. If stuff like this upsets you, don’t forget about it when election time comes.
