Making Eastlake an Alcohol Impact Area
This web page provides information on efforts to have the Eastlake neighborhood classified as being an Alcohol Impact Area (AIA). The North and Central AIAs that the City and the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board established in 2006 for Downtown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill, and the University District left Eastlake in a “doughnut hole,” entirely surrounded by business districts that are AIAs. It appears that people in Eastlake were not aware of this proposal until after its adoption.
AIAs restrict sale of fortified beers and wines. These products are favored by chronic public inebriates because they contain more alcohol for less money. The two Alcohol Impact Areas which now surround Eastlakenow limit the sales of fortified beer and wine, and therefore create an incentive for businesses to sell these products in Eastlake. The risk is to bring into Eastlake the same social and crime impacts that caused these AIAs to be set up in the neighborhoods that surround Eastlake. Chronic public inebriates who are unable to purchase enriched beer or wine in those areas have an incentive to purchase these products in Eastlake, with a possible detrimental impact on public safety.
The required first step toward being included in an Alcohol Impact Area is to make efforts to promote voluntary compliance from retailers and suppliers. While it is always to be hoped that voluntary compliance will be successful, it is unlikely to be a substitute for Eastlake being included in an AIA. Being surrounded by AIAs, Eastlake is likely to continue to be at risk until it too is included in an AIA.
The most feasible way to include Eastlake in an AIA would be to expand the North Alcohol Impact Area southward. There would be no need to establish a new AIA, just to change the boundaries of an existing one. The needed boundary change would have the North AIA extend south to abut the Central AIA, with the west boundary being Lake Union and the east boundary being I-5 and the parts of Franklin Avenue East that are east of I-5.
Under the rules of the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, the process for including an area in an AIA starts with City legislation authorizing a process of City-monitored voluntary efforts, Voluntary efforts that precede this official City involvement do not count with the state Board. After the City-monitored voluntary efforts have been tried and evaluated and if an AIA is still wanted, further City legislation and state Board action would actually designate the AIA boundaries.
In an Oct. 15, 2013 letter, the Eastlake Community Council asked the Mayor, City Council, Department of Neighborhoods, and Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board to get started on the process to include Eastlake in an Alcohol Impact Area. ECC received no responses to this letter from any members of the City Council or then Mayor Mike McGinn, although the Board responded that “The creation of an alcohol impact area must begin with an ordinance adopted by the City and following that adoption voluntary compliance must be attempted for a minimum of six months before the City can petition the LCB for recognition of the AIA.”
ECC subseqently made extensive efforts to get City officials involved, but no one was willing to take ownership of this issue. In April 2014, ECC wrote again to the City Council, hearing back from then Councilmembers Tom Rasmussen, Nick Licata, and Mike O’Brien, but not the others (click here for the e-mail to Bruce Harrell, then chair of the City Council’s public safety committee; similar e-mails went to all nine City Councilmembers; Licata was the only member of the public safety committee who responded (the other member was Sally Bagshaw).
ECC also wrote to then Mayor Ed Murray, on whose behalf the Department of Neighborhoods responded that “The City of Seattle is continuing to assess the Voluntary Ban pilot (note, the establishment of a voluntary ban is a preliminary step for the creation of an AIA) and its ability to mitigate community problems with public inebriation and other illegal activities associated to the sale of alcohol. Additionally, the Mayor’s Office is continuing to work with beer, wine and liquor distributors to evaluate the success of the pilot voluntary ban areas in Greater Duwamish, Beacon Hill and Lake City.”
Any City Council decision to add Eastlake to an AIA would be preceded by many opportunities for public comment. For background, see the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board’s web site at http://liq.wa.gov/licensing/alcohol-impact-areas.
For questions or suggestions, please contact us at info@eastlakeinfo.net