Washington State liquor Control Board

Ms. Merwil V Guzman, MVG@liq.wa.gov

Re: New application # 410598

DENY application to open a liquor store in the Little Brook area of Lake City, Seattle, WA.

We are requesting that the Washington State Liquor Control Board deny the new application (license # 410598) for A's Liquor & Spirits 1 made by Trapp 15th Ave. Liquor Sales, LLC (Xitco, Lucas Paul; Xitco, Alisa) for a beer/wine specialty shop and SLS spirits retailer at 3217 NE 145th Street, Seattle, WA 98155, for the following reasons:

  There are already two nearby stores selling off-premise alcohol within feet of each other.

The proposed A's Liquor & Spirits 1 at 3217 NE 145th Street is in the same small building has a 7-Eleven selling beer and wine at 3227 NE 145th Street. Across the street, only a few hundred feet away, Walgreen’s at 14352 Lake City Way NE is selling beer wine and hard liquor.

 The liquor store site is in an extremely poor and dense area of Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood of Little Brook (Office of Housing 2010 census data).

This area is concentrated with extremely-low and low income housing, with increasing density of multi-unit structures east towards Lake City Way NE and north towards NE 145th Street—the site of the proposed liquor store. Renter-occupied housing is 93% (compared to 52% City-wide).

 

A Seattle Housing Authority complex with 71 one bedroom units for seniors and people with disabilities and 41 large 3-4 bedroom units for families with young children is only 2 blocks west of the proposed liquor store.

 

Little Brook also contains considerable privately owned housing that takes section 8 housing vouchers or provide supportive living for mentally and physically disabled, and elderly.

 

 Crime in Little Brook is high; more off-premise alcohol will only exacerbate the problems.

Many scientific studies^1-4 report that added off-premise liquor outlets contribute significantly to crime and community violence.

 

Crime (per Seattle 9-1-1 statistics from July 2010-present) in the Little Brook area is already high:

• Armed robberies/assaults and assaults (71); guns (5); other weapons (3); strong arm robberies (6); burglaries (86); reckless endangerment (7); property destruction (44); trespassing (30); noise (330); lewd conduct (7); mischief nuisance (40); liquor violations (47); mental complaints (170); narcotic activities (34); overdoses (3).

 

• Domestic violence is extremely high but is not included in publically available 9-1-1 data.

 

• This area is at the junction of three police departments: Seattle, Shoreline, and Lake Forest Park, seemingly resulting in jurisdictional confusion rather than faster police response.

 

• In a March 2013 survey of Little Brook residents conducted by the University of Washington School of Public Health Community-Oriented Public Health Practice students, the block of 145th between 32nd NE and Lake City Way—where the new liquor store is proposed—was identified by residents as one of the areas generating the most fear/discomfort.

 

 Bad for the youth in Little Brook.

• Nearly ¼ of the 1500+ Little Brook population is age 18 or under (Office of Housing 2010 census data).

 

• There is a Seattle Public Schools bus stop only 1 block away from the proposed liquor store location. City bus stops, which many children must use, are north, east, and northeast of the building.

 

• An afternoon and evening tutoring center operated by Seattle King County and Catholic Community Services is just two blocks west.

 

 • Added alcohol outlets increases youth alcohol consumption⁵.

 

 The space is only 7400 square feet as opposed to the voter-approved 10,000 square feet.

As community stakeholders, we strongly oppose this liquor store in our neighborhood because it will add to the existing fear, and high rates of crime and violence found in Little Brook, and it will reverse all the hard work and care of the Little Brook citizens attempting to improve this community. We request that application # 410598 be denied.

References 

1.Franklin et al. 2010 West J Emergy Med;3:283

2.Grubesic & Pridemore 2011 Intl J Health Geo;10-30

3. Cunradi et al. NY Acad Med 2011;88:191-200

4. Gruenewald & Remer Alc Clin Exp res;30: 1184-1193

5. Chen et al. 2009. J Adolescent Healthl44:582-589

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