Sync

In January, the South Side Neighborhood Association successfully blocked an alcohol permit application at the Quick Stop store at the corner of Roosevelt Road and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Little Rock. That intersection already had two stores selling alcohol and the latest permit would have made three in a Little Rock area that the neighborhood association says already has too much crime.

The five-member Alcoholic Beverage Control Board voted unanimously to block the permit, saying, “We do not want to do anything to make this neighborhood worse than it already is,” and recognizing the struggles with crime in that area.

Kathy Wells, president of the Coalition of Greater Little Rock Neighborhoods, echoed the sentiments about crime and directly related incidents to places selling alcohol in the area.

“We have too many stores selling alcoholic beverages as it is,” Wells said. “The coalition has struggled for years with the growing number of [alcohol] outlets east of University Avenue.”

Too many outlets and the increased availability of alcohol near a neighborhood threatens the community with more drunk driving accidents and crime issues, she said.

Wells has spoken to police officers who agree that convenience stores that stay open 24 hours and sell gas, food and beer lend themselves to crime because they are the ones with the most cash at any given hour.

“When a store like this is robbed, it brings crime right to your front door,” she said. “Stray bullets from a robber’s gun can easily travel a few blocks to your house.

“I myself have enjoyed the occasional refreshing beverage,” Wells said. “But the simple fact is, we already have plenty of places to buy alcohol. There has to be a limit to its availability, and we need to push for more regulation.”

On Nov. 16, Alcoholic Beverage Control denied the Quick Stop’s beer permit. The applicant appealed and in January, his hearing with the agency resulted in a final rejection of the permit. But does the area really have a problem with liquor stores and crime?

Looking at the square created south of Interstate 630, east of University Avenue, and west and north of Interstate 30, the ABC had listed 15 retail liquor permits in that area, as of October 2011. The large area north of I-630, west of I-30 and east of I-430 — the River Market, Heights and Hillcrest — also had 15 retail liquor permits listed with Alcoholic Beverage Control, though that area does have many more permits for on-site alcohol consumption, which includes beer, liquor and wine sold at bars. (See a map of alcohol permits in Little Rock at syncweekly.com.)

When it comes to crime, police incident reports from the first 11 months of 2011 reveal that all six robberies at liquor stores happened in the area south of I-630 and east of University Avenue. In all, the area had 20 police incident reports that ranged from shoplifting to larceny to stolen vehicles. (See sidebar for more information.)

“You’ve got the folks struggling with abuse who are more frequently tempted because they’re passing more outlets selling to them. You have the crime elements because these are attracting robbers. When you combine it with the late hours in a convenience store — we studied this a few years back — when midnight comes around the only places open are these convenience stores, the robbery rates go through the roofs,” said Wells of her neighborhood.

She believes her neighborhood is disproportionately saddled with the city’s liquor permits.

“There’s an enormous number of these liquor stores and on-premise consumption outlets in the older neighborhoods in comparison with west of [I-]430,” Wells said. “The population is equally divided east and west of I-430, but why aren’t alcohol permits redistributed equally?”

— additional reporting by will hehemann

Permit process: based on population

Despite the growth of Little Rock over the last 25 years, growth that has included the opening of more than a few new liquor stores in town, there have actually been no new permits issued for such businesses in all that time, according to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

The reason behind the seeming paradox dates back to the mid-1980s and Arkansas Code 3-4-201. It restricts the number of liquor stores (though not groceries or convenience stores selling wine and beer) in each county to one for every 4,000 people in the county. Stores existing when the law was passed were grandfathered in so as not to close, but counties exceeding the quota aren’t allowed new permits until the ratio is right.

In Pulaski County, which was over the quota even back then, that means no new permits until either the population booms or there are less than 95 active permits (the 2010 Census reported a population of 382,748). Thus, every time a new store opens, it’s because an existing permit of a closing business has been cannibalized and reissued to a new address and owner, which is permitted under Alcoholic Beverage Control rules.

However, in Pulaski County’s case, such transfers are affected by another law. This one, Arkansas Code 3-4-221, prohibits transferring a permit into any city located in a county of more than 200,000 people. When the law was passed (and only until very recently, in fact) that was just Pulaski County, essentially protecting stores in its cities from permits moving into their borders from either another city or an unincorporated area. In other words, no one could move a permit from a North Little Rock address into Little Rock or vice versa. Permits can only move around inside the city or move out of it into the county.

— spencer watson

In the first 11 months of 2011, Little Rock police had reports of 54 incidents at stores with liquor permits. + Enlarge

Police incidents at liquor stores in Little Rock

In the first 11 months of 2011, Little Rock police had reports of 54 incidents at stores with liquor permits. Twenty of those were in the area south of Interstate 630 and east of University Avenue and included: six robberies, one burglary-forced entry, two stolen vehicles, one aggravated assault, one purse snatching, five shoplifting and four larceny-miscellaneous incidents.

In other areas of the city:

Seven burglaries were reported at liquor stores: five in west Little Rock; one in Rebsamen and one in southwest Little Rock.

Twenty-two shoplifting reports were filed at liquor stores.

Eleven larceny reports were filed at liquor stores.

One breaking-and-entering; and three stolen vehicles were reported.