KNA member Rick Sills has been attending meetings of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, as it weighs liquor license, in Rick’s role as King neighborhood representative to the Safety and Livability Team at the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods.

In response to OLCC’s granting of a liquor license to a convenience mart in close proximity to the Beverly Cleary School, Rick writes:

Beverly Cleary School (BCS) is a second-grade through eighth-grade public grade school located in the Grant Park neighborhood (GPN) at 1915 N.E. 33rd Ave.; about seven hundred children currently attend BCS.

Recently some of our GPN neighbors have documented with photographs longstanding alcohol-related problems within 500 feet of Beverly Cleary School.

On the morning of October 25, 2012, two GPN neighbors went to an OLCC hearing and presented these (and other) pictures and testimony to the five-member OLCC Board of Commissioners in opposition to the OLCC license application denominated “Jacksons #562”.  Jacksons #562 involved an application for an OLCC license for a proposed “Jackson’s Market convenience store” to be located at the northwest corner of the intersection of N.E. 33rd and N.E. Broadway, within 500 feet of Beverly Cleary School.

Given the well-documented ongoing alcohol-related problems within 500 feet of Beverly Cleary School, the OLCC Commissioners appear to have had the clear authority, under Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 845-005-0320, to deny the Jacksons #562 OLCC license application (see OAR 845-005-0320, below).

I note also that the OLCC Board of Commissioners had received 47 letters from Grant Park neighbors in opposition to the Jackson #562 OLCC license prior to the 10/25/12 hearing.  Furthermore, Ken Peterson, the Land Use and Transportation Chair of the GPN Association, through a detailed presentation at the 10/25/12 hearing, asserted that, even if the OLCC were to grant the Jacksons #562 license, the OLCC should place restrictions on the license that would help mitigate the alcohol-related problems in the community.

Moreover, at the hearing, I explicitly testified that Principal Teri Geist, the Principal of Beverly Cleary School, had concerns about the OLCC Board issuing yet another OLCC license to a proposed store that would be within 500 feet of her school; there were already two other OLCC licensees within 500 feet of Beverly Cleary School.

I told the Commissioners about a recent email Principal Geist had sent me, and then read into the record from the email itself the following statement by Principal Geist: “It is now important that I express concern to the OLCC about the potential issuance of a license at Jackson’s.”  I then respectfully requested that the Board set over consideration of the Jacksons #562 license application to give time for an OLCC investigator to contact Principal Geist and investigate her concerns.  I noted that the need for such further investigation was clearly underscored by the graphic photographic documentation of ongoing alcohol-related problems near the grade school which that morning Grant Park neighbors had presented to the Commissioners.

During its brief deliberations, the OLCC Commissioners made no mention of Principal Geist’s concerns nor did the Commissioners recognize on the record the need for further investigation of those important concerns.

Following these cursory deliberations, the OLCC Board of Commissioners ignored all of the compelling community testimony questioning the proposed license and unanimously approved, without restriction, the license application of Jacksons #562.

This controversial decision by the OLCC Commissioners has recently led some GP neighbors to take their concerns to the media (see, e.g.: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/grant_park_neighbors_unhappy_n.html; and, http://www.katu.com/news/Public-drinking-spurs-plan-to-boycott-convenience-store-176372331.html.)

From my discussions with employees at the OLCC, it appears that neighborhoods presently have no control over how many OLCC licensees are in their community (the issue of “saturation”)–or even over how many OLCC licensees are within 500 feet of a grade school.

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I recently spoke to the “rules” person at the OLCC and asked her what rules guided OLCC licences.  She referred me to the following site: http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/rules/oars_800/oar_845/845_tofc.html.  If your interested, you might want to look over these various OLCC rules.

I was also directed, under “Division 5” of these rules, to OAR 845-005-0326, entitled, “License Not Demanded by Public Interest or Convenience”.  Because, to me, sections (2) (a) (A) and (B) of this rule seem particularly pertinent, for your convenience, I’ve provided below what I believe is a copy of these sections of the rule.

845-005-0326

License Not Demanded by Public Interest or Convenience

ORS 471.313(1) allows the Commission to deny a license that public interest or convenience does not demand. The following are some of the public interest or convenience reasons for which the Commission may deny a license unless the applicant shows good cause to overcome the criteria:

(2) Proximity to Facilities:

(a) The licensed premises:

(A) Will be located within 500 feet in urban or suburban areas or within 1,500 feet in a rural area of the boundary (measured property line to property line) of a licensed child care facility or elementary or secondary school; a church; a hospital, nursing care facility or convalescent care facility; a park or children-oriented recreational facility; or alcohol and other drug treatment or rehabilitation facility; and

(B) Will adversely impact the facility.

(b) Good cause to overcome this criterion includes, but is not limited to, a showing by the applicant that:

(A) The proposed operation is consistent with the zoning where the proposed premises will be located, is consistent with the general character of the area and the adverse impact will not unreasonably affect the facility; or

(B) The size of the proposed premises’ community is so small that the proposed location is a reasonable location for the proposed operation.

(c) This criterion does not apply to renewal applications or to changes of ownership with no change in license privileges or operation.

First, it seems that something like the following two general issues are emerging:

In response to question (1), King neighbors could contact the OLCC at (800) 452-6522.  More specifically, neighbors could register their concerns with the OLCC Director of Licensing, Farshad Allahdadi, by phone at (503) 872-5224; or, by email at farshad.allahdadi@state.or.us.   Neighbors could also register their comments about a specific action the OLCC Board of Commissioners has taken by contacting Austene Schneider of the OLCC at (503) 872-5052.  Neighbors might also want to directly contact one or more of the five tax-supported OLCC Commissioners, whose contact information (from the OLCC website) follows:

Regarding question (2), if King neighbors are interested in changing relevant OLCC laws so as to empower their community, they could contact their state representative.  It’s my understanding that King Neighborhood is within House District 43 and that the state representative to the Oregon State Legislature for Distict 43 is Representative Lewis Frederick, who can be contacted by phone at (503) 986-1443.  It seems particularly fortunate that during the 2011 and 2012 Oregon Legislative Sessions, Rep. Frederick served as Co-Vice-Chair of the House Education Committee.  As such, one would imagine that Rep. Frederick would be keen on fashioning a legislative solution to the adverse impact of OLCC decisions on pubic schools and the children who attend them.  Neighbors might, either as individuals or as an organized group, contact Rep. Frederick and explain that they are his constituents, that they have a major concern to discuss with him, and that they would like to schedule a meeting with him.  Neighbors unable to meet with Rep. Frederick might want to email their concerns to him at rep.lewfrederick@state.or.us.

Also,  because it’s my understanding that the five tax-supported OLCC Commissioners on the OLCC Board of Commissioners are appointed by Oregon governors, if King neighbors have concerns with the current OLCC Board’s recent issuance of a new OLCC license to a business that is within 500 feet of a grade school, when within 500 feet of that school documented, longstanding, and ongoing alcohol-related problems are already occurring, neighbors might want to express their concerns to the Governor’s Citizen Representative at (503) 378-4582.

Regarding these issues in general, the right kind of media attention could be helpful.  As you know, some of our Grant Park neighbors have already engaged the media.  Such things as news stories and letters to the editor often set the stage for positive changes.  Relevant media attention could perhaps convince the Portland City Council to help catalyze desirable legislative changes.

Finally, if King neighbors want to support the efforts of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association (GPNA), they might consider contacting Jacksons Food Stores, through Andrea Jackson, at andrea.jackson@jacksonsfoodstores.com, to request that Jacksons enters into a Good Neighbor Agreement with the GPNA.