Health & Fitness
Lessons Learned From the Planning Commission's Struggles
The Planning Commission (PC) meeting on June 12 was long and divisive as the Commissioners tried to decide if allowing 99 Cents Store to begin selling beer and wine in two of their stores was a good thing to do. Everyone agreed that 99 Cents Stores was an excellent business and their contribution to the City was valued, although, to be quite frank, they are fairly isolated and not known for their support of City activities.
But research demonstrated that increasing the number of outlets results in increased DUIs, crime, especially violent crime, and health problems. Moreover, 99 Cents Stores has a poor track record when it comes to obeying the State’s alcohol laws, and at least one Commission member worried about the physical layout and the chances of underage kids shoplifting. One other member worried about 99 Cents Stores squeezing out the profits from existing mom and pop shops, of which nearly a dozen are within walking distance of where 99 Cents Stores proposes to sell beer and wine.
In the final analysis, 4 of the 5 Commissioners saw nothing unique in what 99 Cents Stores was offering, no gap they were filling, nor any necessity that urged their acceptance. In essence, the Commissioners, on their own and with far more research done by their own group than had been provided by the staff, came to agree with the Director of Planning that 99 Cents Stores should not be granted the licenses.
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What have we learned?
The quantity and quality of information being provided to the Commission on a very critical issue is far from adequate. This is disturbing since the PC makes decisions that impact our lives. If they make these decisions based on poor information, how can we expect them to make good decisions? We need to radically improve the research abilities of our staff.
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Everyone agrees that the process by which the PC studies the issue of selling alcohol is deeply flawed. The process needs a complete overhaul. Even the Council recognizes this fact, yet for more than a year the proposal to revise the process has languished. We need a way to fast track issues that have significant impact on our lives.
The awkwardness with which 99 Cents Stores has had to go through a series of meetings, postponements, reconsiderations, etc. is comical. The PC (and this goes for the Council and the Parks Commission too) needs to do a better job managing time. No business would operate as sloppily as our City does.
The average citizen needs to be more involved in the activities at City Hall, because these decisions directly impact their lives. The City does nothing to facilitate this process, because, quite frankly, they prefer to be left alone. This needs to change if we are to be a healthy democracy.
