FEBRUARY 2004

limiting licenses
Business leaders talk to Mayor Kilpatrick
about his campaign to crack down on liquor stores
Just before the holiday season, when
consumers were purchasing champagne
to toast the New Year, Detroit Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick announced that he is
launching a crackdown on liquor stores.
“These stores have spread like a cancer
throughout the city, pouring alcohol into the
neighborhoods,” said the Mayor.
The statement prompted an immediate
reaction from the business community and
led the Associated Food
Dealers of Michigan (AFD) to
issue a response. “Not only
was the mayor’s statement
devoid of truth, it is destructive
to the goodwill and
progress that many of us have
worked toward for the last 20
Kilpatrick
years,” said Michael Sarafa,
president of the AFD.
Sarafa, along with members of the Chaldean
Chamber of Commerce, called storeowners
together to discuss the concerns at an emergency
meeting held at the Southfield Manor.
Members of both groups discussed legal, public
relations and communications strategies at the
meeting. Storeowners expressed their outrage
at the extent of the enforcement actions being
taken that included many citations for food
that actually belonged to workers or owners
and was not being sold in the store.
Members of the Chamber and the AFD
also met with Mayor Kilpatrick in an attempt
to educate the Mayor on the issues at hand.
BY CHALDEAN NEWS STAFF
Tel-5 Party Shop in Detroit
While the actual number of active liquor
licenses within Detroit’s limits has gone
down nearly 5 percent in five years, the AFD
and the Chamber agree with the Mayor that
there are still too many unused liquor licenses
available in Detroit.
During the last 40 years, Detroit’s population
— and its quota of licenses — has declined
by about 38 percent. Although the quota has
gone down substantially, the actual number of
licenses has declined only by about 8 percent.
The reason for this disparity is that, for
years, every license created never expired. If a
business closed, the license was either transferred
or stayed on an “inactive” list indefinitely.
The AFD, with the backing of other
industry groups, supported a change in the
rules that lets licenses expire if they are inactive
for three years.
“The mayor’s approach also needs to recognize
the rights of individuals and businesses
and stay within good code and law
enforcement procedures,” said Sarafa.
“When it comes to moratoriums and
closures, neither storeowners nor mayors
are above the law. If liquor license
applicants meet the rigorous state
requirements and the nearly insurmountable
requirements of city ordinances,
they are, as a matter of law,
entitled to a license.”
He further stated that “the mayor’s
statements, which stressed signage over
substance, seemed intended to throw
out more than 30 years of cooperation
and communication that dates back to
the administrations of Coleman Young and
Dennis Archer.
According to the mayor’s office, the
absence of dialogue between the office and
the business community was an oversight.
“The mayor had instructed staff members to
LIMITING LICENSES continued on page 33
WHAT THE MAYOR PROPOSED
• Forbid new neighborhood liquor or party stores from opening. Detroit has 338 liquor
stores and 379 stores that sell only beer and wine, according to city officials.
• Ask the state Liquor Control Commission, which issues licenses, to make it harder for
people to keep inactive licenses and to transfer licenses. The city is 164 licenses over a
state quota for party stores based on population, officials said.
• Push for state or local legislation to increase to 1,500 feet the distance from schools
where spirits can’t be sold. The current distance is 500 feet.
• Crack down on the illegal sale of alcohol, drug paraphernalia and cigarettes at stores. Ten
police officers and sergeants from the gang and vice units would be assigned to the task.
• Have workers from the city’s Buildings and Safety Engineering Department inspect party
stores over the next 30 days following the campaign kickoff, and ticket those that violate
sign and food laws as well as building codes.
FEBRUARY 2004 CHALDEAN NEWS 17