Printer-friendly version
By Miriam Raftery
April 16, 2015 (El Cajon) – The City of El Cajon is cracking down on liquor stores and markets that sell alcohol to minors and serial inebriates. Following sting operations that found many stores selling to minors, some repeatedly, on Tuesday the City Council voted unanimously to ask staff to work on preparing a ballot initiative to make alcohol sale restrictions part of the city’s charter so that the limits will be “very difficult to take it out,” Mayor Wells said.
No one spoke publicly against the ballot initiative effort. But Mayor Bill Wells (photo, left) said he and the council members have been threatened by the liquor industry with punishment if the measure is put on the ballot. The industry and its lobbyists “have said that they will spend tremendous amounts of money to make sure we are never elected again,” said the Mayor, who told citizens present, “We don’t want you to be in a position where your city council changes or your mayor changes and all of that hard work can just be wiped away with a single vote.”
To change the charter would require a new ballot initiative asking people to soften regulations on alcohol. “Frankly I don’t think that would ever pass,” he added.
In 2013, the city adopted a Deemed Approved Ordinance proposed by Councilman Gary Kendrick. The ordinance has had a positive impact, dramatically reducing problem alcohol sales. Citations for public drunkenness fell from 526 before the ordinance to 344 after, while the number of minors found in possession of alcohol fell from 29 to 2. But some problems remain.
But iIn 2014, the El Cajon Police Department conducted several minor decoy operations on 66 of the 79 off-sale alcohol businesses in El Cajon. In the sting operations,18 retailers sold alcohol to the minor decoy and three of the businesses sold alcohol to minors on two separate occasions.
The El Cajon Planning Commission is currently evaluating the repeat violations of the three businesses, including Sky Fuel whose hearing was held on March 17, Tykes Liquor set for May 19th and Arnele Liquor for June 2nd. El Cajon Police sent a minor decoy to Sky Fuel four times. On two occasions, a Sky Fuel attendant sold alcohol to a minor.
Owner of Sky Fuel, Nash Mirok told the planning commission that he trains all of his employees and that he shouldn’t have to be accountable for “one bad apple,” PublicStrategies.org reports.
But Planning Commission members have said that businesses need to comply with the ordinance and that business owners are responsible for training employees appropriately to ensure they are in compliance with all laws.
One standard required by the ordinance is that owners and employees of all alcohol outlets attend the Responsible Beverage Sales Service (RBSS) training. The training helps business owners and employees of alcohol establishments to learn how to spot fake identification and teach them how and when to refuse sales or service of alcohol to intoxicated individuals.
Mirok was reprimanded during the public hearing because he disregarded multiple letters regarding the mandatory RBSS training.
Some business owners believe that a Deemed Approved Ordinance is designed to put problem businesses out of business, but health and safety experts disagree, saying the goal is to reduce community problems by holding retailers accountable by complying with the law.
“Many business owners are scared of any law that can affect their alcohol sales,” said Beth Sise, chair of the Alcohol Policy Panel of San Diego County. “The truth is, though, these laws are not designed to put anyone out of business. They are designed to get problem businesses to obey the law, reduce alcohol-related problems and create safer communities for residents and neighboring businesses.”
The San Diego County Binge and Underage Drinking Initiative recently conducted a public records request of 16 cities in California that have implemented Deemed Approved Ordinances and found that only four alcohol businesses, of more than 7,300 alcohol licenses issued, had their conditional use permits either revoked or suspended due to highly problematic business practices and repeated violations.
A lawsuit challenged El Cajon’s deemed approve alcohol ordinance, but the city recently prevailed in court.
The city’s efforts to put an initiative on the ballot to add the alcohol regulations into the city charter are supported by Communities Against Substance Abuse and the East County Chamber of Commerce, which testified in favor. The Neighborhood Market Association also sent a letter in support of the effort, despite its earlier opposition to the deemed approved ordinance.
Councilman Tony Ambrose noted that the city is not anti-alcohol, and that "many of us like to enjoy a glass of wine now and then," but that it's important to protect children from alcohol.
Kendrick told ECM that one issue has been lax state enforcement of laws limiting alcohol to minors. A key problem is that store owners know that decoys from law enforcement, if asked their age, must state that they are under 21, "not like real kids," he noted. Kendrick wants store owners to take responsibility for carding those who may be underage, even if they state they are over 21.
The Mayor proposed putting the measure on the fall 2016 ballot to coincide with the presidential election.
Recent comments