Streamlining Liquor License Process

I see the council is moving ahead with its plan to streamline the process by which a restaurant or bar gets a liquor license, possibly by eliminating the review function of the liquor advisory board. It doesn't appear there was much announcement of the plans to modify the function of the LAB, since LAB chair Don Monty didn't know the council had plans to look at the function of the LAB. If the chair of the board didn't know about plans to modify its function, it's a pretty good bet the rest of the community didn't know either. As Monty noted, when looking at the agenda, it wasn't particularly clear which agenda item related to the proposed revamping of the LAB.

Hollywood Lounge Reopening

The Hollywood Lounge, which closed for a couple of weeks when the city pulled its liquor license after a shooting, will reopen tonight with a higher admittance age than any other bar in town. You have to be 30 or older in order to get in. Guess they figure that it is the younger crowd that is more likely to carry a gun and also more likely to use it if they feel they have been insulted or get into an argument.

Birger's Pub License Transfer

Caught a few minutes of the LCC discussion regarding the transfer of the B2 liquor license from Shaun's Place to Birger's Pub last Tuesday night. Although the LCC approved the transfer, setting it up for final approval by the City Council, council members expressed some concern over the lack of information regarding operations of the Pub. Specifically, questions were raised about who would handle money at the Pub, were the bartender and manager the same and how would receipts be tracked.

Under the license, at least 51% of the revenue generated by the Pub mist come from liquor sales. A couple of council people wondered how the monies from liquor sales and video gaming would be tracked. The Birger's Pub representative pointed out that the video game terminals automatically transmitted their receipts to the state on a regular basis, so the city could request that information and compare total receipts to video gaming one. The transfer passed, with only two LCC members voting against.

Shaun's Place Now Birger's Pub

According to this item from the upcoming Liquor Control Commission's agenda, what was going to be called Shaun's Place on the ground floor of the Newel Building will now have its name and ownership changed to Birger's Pub. Shaun's Place never did get off the ground and Birger's Pub is still undergoing rennovations:

Attached is an application from GLH Capital Enterprise, Inc., d/b/a Birger’s Pub, for the transfer of an existing Class B2 liquor license currently held by Shaun Kocel, an individual, d/b/a Shaun’s Place at 201 East Main Street #1-B. Included is a notarized letter from Mr. Kocel, owner of Shaun’s Place, authorizing the transfer. This item was previously on the September 20 agenda but was pulled as the applicant did not receive timely notice of the meeting.

Liquor Code provisions: There is a cap of 20 on Class B1 and B2 liquor licenses, but as this is a transfer of an existing B2 license, there will be no change in the number currently issued. Class B2 licenses shall authorize the retail sale of all alcoholic liquors, by the drink, for consumption on the premises only, subject to the terms, conditions, and restrictions of this and all other pertinent sections of this code. The holder of a B2 license shall not allow any person under the minimum entry age to enter into or remain upon the premises for which the license is held.

Transfers of Licenses:

A. A license shall be a purely personal privilege and shall not constitute property. Nothing in this title shall be construed to grant a right to transfer or accept the transfer of any license. Applicants for the transfer of an existing liquor license shall follow the procedures for issuance of a new liquor license as contained in the Liquor Code.

B. The local liquor control commission, upon receipt of written application and a transfer fee in the amount of one hundred dollars ($100.00), may authorize the transfer of any license issued under this chapter.

C. If the applicant seeks to transfer the license to a new location, the proposed location must comply with all rules, regulations, city ordinances and state statutes applicable to the operation and maintenance of a licensed premises.

D. The transfer of a license issued hereunder from one person to another may only be made in the case of a bona fide sale or transfer for valuable consideration of the business, and upon the determination by the local liquor control commission that the purchaser possesses the qualifications as required of an applicant for the original license.

E.  No transfer shall be effective and no new license shall be issued until the former license is submitted to the office of the city clerk and all monies due the city have been paid.

Liquor Advisory Board Review: This application was reviewed by the Liquor Advisory Board at the meeting of September 1, 2016. While a motion for the approval of the application was received, there was no second. There were no subsequent motions and this matter has been forwarded to the Commission for their consideration. 

Outstanding Items: The $100 transfer fee has been paid and the criminal history check did not reveal anything which would preclude the applicant from holding a liquor license. All other items remain outstanding.

End License Caps

The Southern makes a good point regarding getting rid of liquor license caps. A better idea than the caps would be an open number of licenses, with new ones issued on an as needed basis.

The Pony vs. Curbside

In case you missed it, two local bars and grills, The Pony Cabaret and Steakhouse and Curbside, both had their liquor licenses pulled, Curbside for two weeks and The Pony permanently. What is interesting is the length of time and the offenses for which each lost its license.

Curbside had theirs pulled for " several liquor license violations including not having a state liquor license last year and having a felon as manager" while the Pony lost theirs for "owner having been convicted of tax evasion and forgery in California in the 1990s". In addition, while Curbside has had problems with patrons fighting outside of the establishment and leaving quite a bit of litter in surrounding parking lots, as near as I can tell, the only other problem associated with the Pony was a citation for a blocked fire door. In other words, a much longer track record of violations at Curbside generated a much more lenient penalty.

If I didn't know better, I 'd think the city was using the 1990s conviction as a means to shut the Pony down in order to close what they perceive as an undesirable business on the main street going into downtown.

Curbside

Possibly indicating the amount to which alcohol sales affected revenues, Curbside has been closed since the city council imposed the 2 week hold on its liquor license. Prior to that, the bar and grill had hosted events every night of the week.

Curbside

In case you missed it in this week's Carbondale Times or today's Southern, Curbside had its liquor license suspended for 2 weeks, starting June 17, and ordered to pay over $1000 in fines for several liquor license violations including not having a state liquor license last year and having a felon as manager. Given the number of violations of city liquor regulations, a two week suspension and fine seems pretty lenient but the holder of the liquor license apparently didn't think so:

Martha Ikner, the license holder for Curbside, said the fine and suspension will be taxing for a business trying to succeed in Carbondale, but the establishment has identified the problems and is working to rectify them.

There's a really easy way to avoid getting your license suspended and not paying fines:  follow the city regulations regarding your license. The council did vote to renew Curbside's liquor license for another year, though.

Curbside had said the restaurant/bar planned to renew regular lunch hours after Mother's Day but, from what I have seen, they still maintain only an evening schedule and are only open when they host events at that.

Convenience Store Liquor Sales

Sat in on part of the discussion regarding allowing convenience stores and gas stations to acquire liquor licenses to sell beer and wine. Predictably, convenience stores were in favor of it and exiting package liquor stores opposed it.

Trace Brown, owner of Marketplace Shell on the east side of Carbondale, said he had building the business with the expectation that he would in the future be allowed to sell beer and wine and that he needed to do so in order to make the business profitable over the long term.  He planned to start collecting signatures from customers asking that the ordinance be changed to allow him to do so.

Representatives from the Hucks and Caseys chains spoke as well to point out that they sold beer and wine in stores in a number of communities surrounding Carbondale with few,if any, incidents reported.

A number of representatives from existing package liquor stores spoke in opposition to any change. Their main point was that their sales had dropped anywhere from 25-50% since the council had voted to license grocery stores to sell beer and wine and that expanding the licensing to convenience stores would likely drive them out of business. Quite a few supporters of the liquor stores were in the audience as the plea to the council to help them stay in business drew the only applause I heard.

This session was only for discussion of the proposed chance in licensing and to get comments from local businesses and residents.  The council will take up the issue of changing the ordinance later.

Convenience Store Liquor Sales

City Council will discuss expansion of Class C liquor licenses to convenience stores at the council meeting tomorrow night. Currently, they cannot get a license to sell beer or wine and the Liquor Advisory Board has voted twice in the past couple of years to approve expanding Class C availability to them.

Deserved or not, Carbondale does have a reputation as a business unfriendly city. Not allowing convenience stores and gas stations to sell beer and wine only serves to reinforce that image. Near as I understand, there are two arguments in favor of keeping the restrictions in place.

1. Competition from convenience and gas stations could drive already existing liquor stores out of business. Giving government sanctioned protection to one group of businesses over another doesn't seem particularly fair though.

2. People drive into the gas station or convenience store, buy beer and drive off, opening one to drink as they drive. This one doesn't make much sense either, especially since we have at least two liquor stores in town with drive up windows.

I cannot think of any other good reasons for not allowing convenience stores to sell beer or wine. Am I missing something?

Aldi Wants to Sell You Beer

The only thing on the agenda for this Thursday's Liquor Advisory Board meeting is an application from Aldi for a Class C2 license, allowing it to sell package beer and wine. Given Aldi's business model, I don't imagine the store will offer a very large selection, probably 1-2 types of beer and an equally large selection of wine.

City Council Meeting

Attended Tuesday night's city council meeting for about an hour but had to leave about eight p.m. From what I have heard, I made a good decision as the meeting drug on until almost 1 a.m., due mainly to local organizations taking advantage of the council's blanket invitation for any group interested to apply to the council for funds.

I am not certain who thought asking more groups to apply for city funding was a good idea, given the budget constraints the city has been operating under for several years now.  Carbondale is looking at a $900,000+ shortfall in its budget, has put in place a requirement that any purchases over $250 must be approved by the city manager (hopefully, he will also look at overtime submitted by city hall staffers) and yet wants groups to come in to ask for already scarce funding.

Council members did advance several proposals to close the budget gap. Among those discussed were raising the package liquor tax, raising the food and beverage tax or approaching properties adjoining the city about annexation. A major problem in any plan to address city funding is the heavy reliance by the city upon the sales tax, rather than property taxes, as a funding source.

Property taxes do not fluctuate in response to the business cycle nearly as rapidly as do sales taxes, ergo they bring in a steadier stream of revenue to fund the city. Sales taxes change more in response to spending patterns but allow the city to shift tax revenues from residents to those who work and shop here, spreading revenue generation to those who use city services while in Carbondale but reside in lower taxed areas outside the city.

Expanded Alcohol Sales

According to this item from the agenda for tomorrow Liquor Advisory Board meeting,it looks as if the city will consider expanding the sales of all forms of alcohol at convenience stores and gas stations and allowing grocery stores that currently sell beer and wine to also sell package liquor:

Discussion of and Recommendations regarding Sale of Beer and Wine at Convenience Store/Gas Stations, Sale of All Packaged Liquor at Convenience Store/Gas Stations, and Sales of All Packaged Liquor at Grocery Stores.

This certainly ties in with discussion about increasing revenue at last night's city council meeting as increasing the tax on packaged liquor was one idea advanced to help reduce the gap between city revenues and expenditures. If I recall correctly, increasing the packaged liquor tax by 1% was projected to increase city revenues by between $100,000 and $200,000 per year.

Liquor Advisory Board Meeting

Sat in on part of tonight's Liquor Advisory Board meeting.  A couple of interesting things came out of it.

For the first time in recent memory, the old Spinonis' building will not get gutted for the new restaurant, Flame Eatery and Bar, going in there,  As was commented at the meeting, during the presentation for the liquor license,  a committee member commented that one of the problems prior restaurants had at the location was that each new owner completely gutted and renovated the building to make it the way they visualized it, rather than taking the restaurant layout in place and building on top of it.  By going into the project this way, the owner plans to minimizes his investment and avoid the financial difficulties previous restaurants ran into.

Also, the people behind the reopened club Melange are the same couple that have owned Kaya for over a decade on S. Illinois. Though it had no effect on the LAB approval, the committee did ask them to consider pulling down the walls the previous owner had put up around the outdoor patio.

Finally, from comments by committee members, it appears that  the expansion of beer and wine sales to grocery stores has had an effect on sales though liquor stores in the community, with one member estimating sales in the stores have declined 20-30%.

Unofficial Halloween

In case you want to attend any of the Unofficial Halloween events this weekend, here is a list.  It looks as if most of the announced events for this weekend will concentrate in the Pinch Penny Pub complex, allowing the police to focus their attention on that area

Happy Hour?

State law prevents restaurants and bars in Illinois from hosting "Happy Hours" so was mildly surprised to the the C'dale Houlihan's promoting one.  It appears though that "Happy Day" just doesn't have the same resonance as Happy Hour for drinks though as the drink specials are day long but the appetizer specials are only good from 4-6.

Liquor Code Changes?

Caught this in the Southern today. The change to the liquor laws allowing wine tastings at farmer's markets and microbreweries and distilleries to sell their product without having to have a certain percentage of food sales makes sense.  Any wine tastings at farmer's markets would have to abide by the same regulations as tastings conducted on the winery's own premises so I assume they would check IDs before allowing samples.

Eliminating the food requirement from microbreweries and distilleries also makes sense as the current requirement for a class A license requires them to shift focus to food preparation, not their area of specialization.  None of the other classes of liquor licenses fit microbrewers and distillers, which sell both by the drink and by the package.  Rewiting the Class H license to include them makes sense and would allow the city to encourage the development of a fast growing segment of the industry.   We already have a number of top drawer wineries in the area, let's encourage some high quality microbrewers as well.

Jane Adams and the DE on Polar Bear

Councilwoman Adams spend much of Saturday night crusing with the Carbondale PD around downtown Carbondale the night of Polar Bear and has posted a report to her blog.  The DE has photo coverage here.  It appears a surprisingly quiet night for the police department, at least based on news posted on their website and from Adams comments.  Strangely, I found no coverage in the Southern Illinoisan about the event, save for descriptions of city preparations for the event.

On the agenda at City Council tonight is a proposal to reduce the number of  available class B liquor licenses from 16 to 15, which are all currently held by operating bars and restaurants.  If the license cap is reduced, anyone wishing to open a bar in town would not only have to get a liquor license but would first have to petition the city council to raise the liquor license cap in order to make another license available, putting another hurdle in the way of someone wishing to start a business in C'dale.  There is also the question of whether we want to encourage the opening of more bars within the community.

Halloween Redeaux?

The annual Halloween bar closure may come to an end now that Hanger 9 owner Sally Carter has decided to approach the Liquor Advisory Board regarding ending it.  For years now, bars on the Strip have had to close the weekend before Halloween in an attempt to end the raucous party that accompanied the holiday.  Now the closure only affects 4 bars: Hangar 9, Sidetracks, Gatsby's and Stix.  Even Old Town Liquors, which did close for several years the nights of the ban, now remains open and SIUC, which used to schedule fall break for Halloween weekend, in order to move students out of town during the period, has moved it to a weekend earlier in the month.

Generally, no discussion takes place regarding removing the ban until September, when people start thinking about it again and considering the possibility of removing it.  Unfortunately, due to the time it takes to move a proposal through the LAB first, then City Council.  Look at how long it took to move the ordinance allowing chickens within the city limits to move through council.  Serious discussion started in 2009 but the ordinance didn't get approved until 2012.  Ergo, starting discussion regarding changing the ordinance now, rather than waiting until September, bodes well for those wanting to remove or alter it.

City Council Meeting 10/23/12

Listening to the city council meeting.  According to city manager Baity, we will see online streaming of council meetings by the next council meeting and the water and sewer office is getting remodeled to put more teller-like windows in so that office workers and customers will be at the same eye level.

Local landlord Herb Donow, owner of the Island and Julia buildings among other properties and a former member of the Carbondale Main Street Board, spoke against renewal of the Special Services Area that provides partial funding for Carbondale Main Street in the form of a property tax on locations within the SSA. Donow's major complaint is that Main Street has received the funding for 15 years and he has seen much more focus by the organization on the northern end of Illinois Avenue, around the Town Square, than on the south end, where several of his properties are located.  He requested that the item reauthorizing the SSA be pulled from the consent agenda and put up to a vote on its own.

It was, and Donow requested that council either, redraw the SSA boundaries to eliminate areas that he felt were not receiving benefits from Carbondale Main Street, eliminate the SSA, or set a shorter renewal period (currently it is five years). Tom Redmond, a member of the CMS board, also spoke to the council, noting this was the first time he had  heard Donow's concerns and urging him and other downtown property owners to contact CMS with concerns and proposals.  Council's eventual consensus was to table the item and bring it up at the next meeting, giving Donow and others time to provide materials to council supporting the action they want taken.

Gus Karayanis  (I think, might have been John) co-owner of the now closed Underground Pub and Grille rose to speak after Donow, not so much about the SSA but to complain that for fifteen years he has approached the city regarding the naming of the street that runs on two sides of this restaurant, both of which are officially named S. University, making it harder for people to find the restaurant.  Manager Baity asked him to contact his office later in the week to discuss it.  Not sure why it hadn't been taken care of before if Karayanis has approached the city a number of times over the years.

Much of the rest of the meeting focused on approving hearings for proposed changes to Carbondale's TIF Districts and amending the proposed Planned Unit Development for Liberty Village which attracted much less controversy than I expected.m

Finally, SIUC  requested the expansion of its liquor license to other venues than the Arena, Student Center and the Stadium, pointing out that it often had events at other locations on campus where it would like the ability to sell liquor, primarily in conjugation with events held at those locations.  After some discussion and an amendment, which I missed, the change in the ordinance passed.

Now we are in citizen comments with one resident complaining about her property taxes and how many different taxing bodies collect part of the property tax, as well as the smell of her water.  Mayor Fritzler pointed out that the state of Illinois has more taxing bodies than any other state in the union and that a change over in the water system is causing the smell which has affected a number of people in the community.  Another resident brought up a concern he has brought up before council previously, the lack of tiedowns and lights on tow trucks pulling towed vehicles in town and asking for greater enforcement of the ordinances requiring them.

Update:  according to the Southern, council approved the proposed development at Liberty Village.