NEW LAW CHUGGING STORES' BEER SALES ALCOHOL RESTRICTION ALSO
REDUCES CRIMEMiami Herald, The (FL) - April 1, 1999Author/Byline:
ALLISON KLEIN, Herald Staff WriterEdition: FinalSection: Neighbors
BCPage: 3BCReadability: 10-12 grade level (Lexile: 1160)A Miami
Beach law that has been restricting beer and wine sales since last
year is cleaning up the streets as hoped - but it's also doing a
job on some businesses owners.
The ordinance passed July 15 says patrons can't buy beer and
wine after 10 p.m. at grocery stores, mini-marts and gas stations
in the city.
The previous cutoff time was either midnight or 2 a.m.,
depending on the store's license.
Now, many store owners say they're losing thousands of dollars a
month because customers are staying away from the sodas, chips and
cookies, as well as the beer.
The purpose of the ordinance is to cut down on people coming to
the Beach, buying a $5 six pack and cruising or hanging on street
corners, especially on Washington Avenue, said Commissioner Nancy
Liebman.
``We don't need kids coming here and sloshing around the streets
until all hours. We had a great big problem with open containers,''
said Liebman, who pushed for the change last year. ``The ordinance
has worked very well, we have noticed a tremendous change.''
According to police statistics, there were 110 fewer arrests
between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. from July 1998 to January 1999, than
during the same time frame the previous year.
The Beach police Washington Avenue Juvenile Gang Task Force also
seized five fewer weapons and wrote 199 fewer citations for curfew
violations.
``You can go to a club and drink beer all night long. Fine. But
you can't buy a six pack and drive around,'' said Police Chief
Richard Barreto. ``It's had a positive effect on the
community.''
But since the law was passed, some store owners say they have
been losing about $7,000 each a month in sales.
``This doesn't make any sense and I believe it's illegal. Why
should the government restrict what to buy and when to buy?'' said
Abraham Abramovich, owner of Alton Road Shell at 1698 Alton Rd.
``If the city wants to regulate so much, they should close the
MacArthur. Are they trying to be Big Brother?''
Abramovich, who has owned the store since 1989, also said it's
unfair that bars and night clubs, which charge more for drinks, can
sell into the wee hours.
``If you want to buy a beer for $1, why should you be forced to
pay $4 or $5?'' he said. ``Whenever the government interferes with
freedom of the individual, you step on basic rights. This is almost
a Gestapo.''
Abramovich said he's lost about 35 percent in beer sales since
the rule went into effect, which translates into about $350 a
day.
Trying to get the law loosened, Abramovich and Martin Tuchbaum,
owner of Ocean Market on Alton Road, started the 190-member Miami
Beach Grocery and Convenient Stores Association, Inc.
Some things the association is offering to the city if it agrees
to return the sale cutoff to midnight:
* Restrict sales of single beers to before 10 p.m.
* Stop selling two-liter beer bottles, which are commonly bought
by ``cruisers.''
* Pitch in extra money to the police fund so the streets can be
better patrolled.
``We're flexible,'' Abramovich said. ``We want to work with the
city to get rid of the problem. But we don't think what they're
doing now is right.''
Another effect of the law is that people are staying away from
other goodies at mini marts, not just beer, said Alexandra
Papageorgiou, owner of the Amoco station at 945 Fifth St.
``People come in and see that our beer coolers are locked and
walk out. They don't buy anything else,'' Papageorgiou said. ``And
when my parents visit from Greece, they have to go across the
causeway after 10 to buy beer. Why penalize everyone for a few bad
apples?''
The bad apples she's referring to are the mini stores who used
to sell cheap beer to minors.
``Some of them were selling it to anyone who could carry it
through the front door,'' said Steve Polisar, chairman of the
Washington Avenue Task Force, which helped shape the regulation
last year. ``It proves that if an industry doesn't police itself,
it gets policed.''
But he also said that the 10 p.m. cutoff is too restrictive.
``Ten may have been an overreaction, the time may have been
snatched out of the sky,'' Polisar said. ``The situation deserves
to be revisited. Sometimes locals or even tourists like to pick up
a bottle of wine after dinner.''E-mail: [email protected]
Caption: photo: Alexandra Papageorgiou and Abraham Abramovich
and Martin Tuchbaum (A)RANDY BAZEMORE / Herald Staff DRY TIMES:
Martin Tuchbaum, president of Miami Beach Convenient Stores;
Alexandra Papageorgiou, owner of the Fifth Street Amoco station;
and Abraham Abramovich, owner of Alton Road Shell, are fighting the
city law restricting beer and wine sales after 10 p.m.Memo: MIAMI
BEACHRecord: 9904060398Copyright: Copyright (c) 1999 The Miami
Herald
