EVERETT — Police want to strengthen the city’s restrictions on selling certain cheap alcoholic beverages in parts of the city.
In April the city of Everett enacted an Alcohol Impact Area to reduce the amount of problems associated with inexpensive, high-proof beverages.
The ordinance as written called for the city’s retailers in the area to voluntarily not sell certain products that are associated with incidents of littering, trespassing, criminal mischief and theft.
After six months, only 15 percent of the affected retailers have heeded the call, Everett Police Lt. Bruce Bosman said, and there has only been a slight dip in the number of alcohol-involved incidents.
He asked the City Council to make the ban mandatory.
“Property owners and Public Works have made an extreme effort to keep up with the debris out there, but it’s still a problem,” Bosman said.
Alcohol Impact Areas are allowed under state law, provided they target a specific geographic area and a list of specific products.
The ordinance, passed by the council in April, creates impact areas in the downtown core, in south Everett near Paine Field and Cascade High School, along Broadway north of 41st Street, and along the whole length of Evergreen Way.
After the ordinance passed, Bosman said he reached out to each of the 101 retailers in the affected areas to explain the new rules and ask them to stop selling the 20 products on the list.
He also invited all the businesses and neighborhood groups to one of two public meetings to discuss their interests.
“I only got six responses to this. I didn’t get any from the neighborhoods,” Bosman told the council.
And yet the problem persists, with the majority of business owners and residents reporting that the problem with litter is still the same or getting worse.
Public works crews are now cleaning up the area around the Everett Gospel Mission twice per week. Trash includes empty bottles and cans. The crews can’t keep up, Bosman said.
“They are literally hauling out truckloads of debris,” he said.
While some representatives from retail businesses came forward in April to oppose the initial ordinance, there hasn’t been any feedback from them since, Mayor Ray Stephanson said.
The expectation was that business groups would remain in communication with the city during the voluntary period, he said.
“Unequivocally, that just didn’t happen,” Stephanson said. “There was some talk initially and then nothing.”
An ordinance likely will be brought before the council Dec. 16, and up for a vote Dec. 30. It would direct the police chief to ask the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board to make the impact area mandatory.
The state board has enforcement authority over alcohol impact areas in cities than enact them, Bosman said.
Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher indicated she would oppose strengthening the ban, as she did the voluntary ordinance in April, saying the city instead should be focusing on more treatment options for buyers of those products.
“If they can’t get the products on the list they’ll drink something else,” she said. “Eventually they’ll move on to areas outside the Alcohol Impact Area.”
Councilman Scott Murphy, who joined the majority in enacting the ordinance in April, said it made sense to move on to the next step because the voluntary efforts had yielded few results.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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