ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 7C04

TOGETHERBETTER!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 7, 2011

CONTACT: Sylvia C. Brown 202-841-4117 brown.sylvia2@gmail.com

Deanwood Residents Picket Against Twelfth Liquor Store

Liquor Store Limits Diverse, Quality, Neighborhood-serving Retail WASHINGTON, DC This Saturday, April 9 Deanwood residents will picket Uncle Lees Seafood to oppose the deli businesss class A liquor license application. The liquor license poses a threat to developing and implementing the economic development potential of the critical Eastern Avenue and Sheriff Road corridors. Additionally, a liquor store will negatively impact the peace, order, and quiet community standard set by the District of Columbias Alcohol Beverage Control board. The picket will start at 10:00 a.m. in the public space at 1100 Eastern Avenue NE. We have clear documentation that the addition of a twelfth liquor store to the Eastern Avenue, Sheriff Road, and Division Avenue corridors will have a significant negative impact on the neighborhood, said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Sylvia C. Brown (7C-04). We need better. We deserve better. We are demanding better. Liquor stores are no way to encourage meaningful, substantial neighborhood revitalization. Deanwood has reached its saturation point with the double-digit count of liquor stores. Eastern Avenue is a known hot spot for vice crimes, especially prostitution, heroin and PCP sales and use, and auto thefts. In fact, the Metropolitan Police Departments Sixth District has a work station at 7-11 on Eastern to increase their response times to emergency calls. Granting another liquor license will seal the brand, and possibly the fate, of the critical Eastern Avenue and Sheriff Road corridors and stretch police resources. A single business type that is clearly linked to negative outcomes, including suppression of economic and community growth, should not be allowed to proliferate unchecked on the retail landscape of Deanwood. Sherrie Lawson, former vice-president of the Deanwood Citizens Association, said, The picket comes after numerous meetings urging Uncle Lees owner, Ms. Eun Sun Kim, to focus on food as a restaurant and take advantage of the technical assistance available from the Deanwood Heights Main Street to improve its faade and marketing to attract customers. Eastern-SheriffDivision has a starburst configuration and is a gateway to the District and Maryland, creating a great business opportunity for a restaurant. Lawson continued, Ms. Kim has refused this advice and has chosen instead to rely on lotto and liquor as the only way to survive. At Saturdays picket residents will urge Ms. Kim to withdraw the liquor license application and focus on food at the deli. Uncle Lees Seafood would improve its business bottom-line and meet an unmet needfreshly made, healthy food in a clean, welcoming environmentand help attract diverse, quality, neighborhood-serving retail to Deanwood.
###