Only Five Residents Come To Speak On Alcohol Issue

Only a handful of residents came out to speak Monday night about whether to allow certain businesses to sell take-out beer and wine. But those who did were passionate in their opposition.

The public hearing was set to get a sense of whether the Takoma Park Council should send a recommendation to the state delegation to enter a bill allowing Class-B and Class-D licenses which permit restaurants to sell closed containers of beer and wine for take-out. Any proposed bill must be submitted by Oct. 7 to meet the state guaranteed bill deadline.

Many who oppose allowing businesses to sell take out beer and wine are worried about the fact that Montgomery County, not Takoma Park, would be the one issuing the licenses.

"The residents would have no say in the outcome of who gets to sell take-out beer and wine," Takoma Park resident Robert Lanza said. "There is a long history in Takoma Park of the county making decisions in the interest of the county and not in the interest of Takoma Park."

Lanza said he didn't think that licensees would be irresponsible with how they would sell beer and wine, but that for it to work, Takoma Park must have veto power over who the county licenses.

Pat Loveless had a less forgiving stance.

"We do not need to encourage the buying of wine or beer anywhere," he said. "Why are we looking for problems? People are going to start grabbing purses to feed their alcohol addiction."

Lanza said selling beer and wine for take-out could bring "urine, feces, trash and rats" to the city.

However there were some were open to the idea.

Preston Quesenberry, who represented the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op in the hearing, said the Co-op would look into selling beer and wine if a law was established saying they could. Though he said the Co-op does not have a formal stance on whether a law should be enacted.

"We want to explore the opportunity to sell local, organic, bio-dynamic beer and wine, which coincides with our mission at the Co-op," Quesenberry said.  "There could be a local economic benefit."

Only one of the five speakers was expressly for the city allowing the sale of off-site beer and wine. Edward Gossman, one of the owners of Roscoe's Pizza, a gourmet pizza restaurant on Carroll Avenue, said being able to offer good beer and wine for his customers to take out would make his business more competitive.

"Without being able to sell beer and wine, it puts the Takoma Park business district at a competitive disadvantage," Gossman said. "If we can sell beer and wine it gives people another cool reason to come down to Takoma Park."

Lori Phelps, Gossman's wife, said allowing beer and wine to be sold for take-out would give her the opportunity to open a gourmet wine and cheese shop within Roscoe's.

"Then people don't have to go to Silver Spring," she said.

But Grossman and Phelps did understand the concern of the community.

"It's a big change," Grossman said. "And the area we are in on Carroll Avenue is a lot different then some other parts of Takoma Park. Their worries are legitimate."