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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-13-2015 BW1 Cooper 2AGENDA CORRESPONDENCE Date:January 13, 2015 Date Item# �t To: SLO City Council AIIavi C47 el� Re: Setting Density Limits For Bars (and Restaurants-That Morph Into Bars) Downtown JAN 13 2015 Tonight I'm talking about neighborhood wellness and the wellness of our downtown. Look up Neighborhood Scout on your computer browser. This web service will tell you that San Luis Obispo is among the top tier of cities in the U.S. with the highest per capita crime rate (171 per square mile - national median 38). Look up Trulia Trends - under the heading "Just How Boozy is Your CityT - on your browser. This web service will tell you that San Luis Obispo is among the top tier of cities in the U.S. with a very high per capita number of alcohol outlets - more restaurants that morph into bars per household than San Francisco (39 per 10,000 households)' and more cocktail bars, wine bars, & beer pubs per household than New Orleans (8.6 per 10,000 households). Look up the Center for Disease Control on your browser and the CDC will tell you that there is a correlation between the concentration of alcohol outlets and crime. There are 63 alcohol outlets concentrated in downtown alone and the City is approving on average five more every year. Curb or preferably reduce the concentration of alcohol outlets and this will curb or reduce crime. Now if you're not concerned about increasing crime in our downtown or you would like to attribute all of our crime to the homeless and not to our college students, think about this - for every new alcohol outlet downtown there is one less store - one less locally- owned, necessity goods or locally- sourced goods store downtown. For every new alcohol outlet downtown there is one more property owner who will choose not to reside in or around downtown. For every new alcohol ' San Luis Obispo has 22,000 households: 183+ restaurants = 83/10,000 households 30+ cocktail bars, beer pubs and wine bars = 14/10,000 households outlet downtown there will be fewer tourists who will want to visit downtown. Is it any surprise that in a 2012 utility poll, 60% of San Luis Obispoans wanted fewer alcohol outlets downtown? Based on this immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare, I, Save Our Downtown and the neighborhood residents of San Luis Obispo urge Council to establish an ordinance that will set alcohol outlet density limits for our downtown. Some of our libertarian friends in the Tea Party would argue that this is none of government's business. But I assure you, this mechanism is legal and has proven to be effective in another college town - Madison, Wisconsin - where it was successfully implemented in 2007.2 The City's prior hesitancy to implement such an ordinance puzzles me because our Community Development Director Derek Johnson worked closely with a Dr. Friedner Wittman on a CPI Policy Brief that recommended setting density limits for over concentrated areas such as ours. So what will this cost us? A modest commitment in staffing time, perhaps 1/2 full time equivalent staffing position. 2Madison's ALDO The implementation of Madison's ALDO was informed by research showing a relationship between concentrations of alcohol outlets and alcohol - related violent crime and other related disturbances.This research included Madison - specific GIs studies tracing crime incidents hour - by -hour in an area of the city with a high density of alcohol outlets and student residences. In 2007 the Madison Common Council adopted the ALDO to maintain or slowly decrease the number and capacity of specific types of alcohol licenses located within the Central Commercial District. The aim was to decrease alcohol - related incidences in the city's downtown area and covers any property. While the total number of liquor licenses in the ALDO area has increased since 2007 from 138 to 148, the number of taverns in the area has decreased from 42 to 37. During this period, the number of calls for service to police also decreased from 3,141 per year to 2,706 and the number of people arrested for aggravated assault, liquor law violations, drunkenness and disorderly conduct all decreased. City staff has recommended a number of changes to the ALDO including altering the geographic area where restrictions apply to focus on the State Street and University Avenue corridors where alcohol - related problems are concentrated. Additional restrictions and levels of review would "overlay" this new district. For leaders in the Greenbush -Vilas neighborhood (GBVN), this ALDO review and consideration of some substantial changes to the downtown ALDO district raises the question of whether the Regent Street corridor also should be considered a "hot spot" requiring more aggressive alcohol license management.