Cups runneth over
The usual suspects will say Sunday's story on liquor stores is about deflecting responsibility, but it's an attempt to understand how a particular dynamic plays out, with some attempt at nuance.
We're a society that loves to drink, and in some contexts, alcohol can have a positive, lubricating role in civilization. The European Peace Pipe.
But poor areas are saturated in liquor stores, for whichever of a variety of reasons, and in Northwest Pasadena and Altadena, they serve as nexii for criminal activity. Maybe anyplace would that people congregate, but 40 ounces of Cobra doesn't bring out the best in a restive community.
Anyhoo, I pulled my scripting skills out of retirement for this interactive map showing the locations of liquor stores. The final product would also serve as a handy tool for local alcoholics.
A helpful map. But how did you determine what's a "liquor store"? Is this every place that sells alcohol? If 7-Elevens are on the list, shouldn't Vons, Ralphs, TJ's, etc., be on there, too? Most pharmacys seem to have liquor departments. And what about BevMo on Arroyo? I'm sure they sell more than Bowtie.
We had a conversation about this. I stripped out places like Vons, Albertsons, the Farm Fresh Ranch Markets. Went with places that were what a reasonable person would consider a 'liquor store' and drove around to evaluate those I wasn't sure.
People don't loiter outside BevMo.
To be fair Chan's on Lincoln is a grocery market. How about this: Any establishment with a fresh produce aisle and butcher dept. be considered not a liquor store.
That being said Chan's has its own set of problems.
[Ronald Mines steers his way through the neighborhood in a wheelchair, two years after creeping arthritis limited the 55-year-old's mobility.
He graduated from John Muir High School and says most of his classmates "are pushing shopping carts now."
Redevelopment and the 210 Freeway, both of which razed black neighborhoods in the 1970s, directly contributed to the problems of today, he said.
"They created all this crap that goes on right now," Mines said. "They called it 'urban renewal.' "]-T.Ruiz Pasadena Star News
This is exactly why we have to be careful with "urban renewal" and "affordable housing issues" the best of intentions (really wonderful Godly inspired ones)can lead 20 years down the road to horrible blight. The Marketplace can be cruel to least advantaged but in the long run it is the best system we have to date.
P.S. Todd your's is the best Pasadena blog ever!
I like the little red bottles, even if some of them wandered to different streets and parts of town.
I drop mail at the P.O. at Mentor and Washington sometimes and see Showcase Liquor clients in the alley sucking on their tall boys and cheap wine, very tastefully obscured by little paper bags.
You can look at that place and the ones at Orange Grove and Raymond and on Lincoln and F.O. in Altadena and read the unwritten ghetto liquor store sign in the peeling paint, painted on store names, dead cars in the dirty parking lots, and all the other things that scream CHEAP BOOZE FOR THE DEPENDENT. GANGSTERS WELCOME, JUST MOVE YOUR CRIME TO THE PARKING LOT AND NEIGHBORHOODS.
Good article by the way.
D.
Oops. Misstyped the web address for my blog so the link's bad.
I know (cough) blogwhore (cough).
This is a very helpful map.
I love 40's of Cobra.