Downtown alcohol impact area designation up for state renewal

Spokane police hope the state Liquor Control Board will continue to ban the sale of certain high-alcohol beverages in the downtown area, though department data about its effectiveness is limited.

Since 2010, Spokane’s downtown core – the area bounded roughly by Scott Street, Spokane Falls Boulevard, Cannon Street and Fifth Avenue – has been a designated alcohol impact area where the sale of high-octane beer and wine products is banned. East Central received the same designation in 2012.

Downtown, sales of 46 low-cost, high-alcohol products are currently banned. That includes Keystone Ice, Steel Reserve and Mike’s Harder Lemonade.

“It has hurt the business, but it has helped with cleaning up the area,” said Harry Sidhu, owner of the Piggy Mart at Third Avenue and Monroe Street.

Sidhu said he supports the ban in spite of the sales hit because it’s reduced problems in the area, though he said people can still buy high-octane beverages elsewhere.

“Those problem guys all moved out of downtown,” he said.

Spokane police Sgt. Sam Yamada said at a Public Safety Committee meeting Monday that the program has shown results in curbing calls for service directly related to alcohol consumption, though other calls for service have increased.

Downtown, police received just 55 calls for liquor violations like open containers in public last year, down from 144 in 2010. Calls to evaluate whether intoxicated people needed to be taken to detox were also down from a high of 280 in 2011 to 134 last year, though incidents where fire and police officers transported people to detox increased in 2014.

But police department data show calls for a wider range of 12 offenses associated with chronic public drunkenness have increased every year since 2010. Last year in the downtown impact area, police received 7,980 calls for those offenses, which include arguments, disorderly conduct, trespassing, suspicious persons and lewd conduct. That’s an increase of about 4 percent over 2013.

East Central calls for service showed similar trends, with decreases in liquor violations and detox calls, but overall increases across a broader group of 12 offenses in 2013 and 2014.

David Mines, who works at Divine’s on Second Avenue and Lincoln Street, said most customers affected by the ban know about it, though he occasionally has to explain it to someone.

“They’re kind of upset that they have to go outside of downtown to get it,” he said, referring to the banned products.

The Liquor Control Board evaluates impact areas every five years by seeking comments from affected businesses and evaluating data about the area, including calls for service. The board sent letters to affected parties, including the city and businesses in the area, on April 3.

Anyone petitioning to end the impact area designation must show the area doesn’t have a “pervasive pattern of public intoxication or public consumption of liquor.”

Yamada said his data was “anecdotal” and “not a scientific study.” It doesn’t address many factors that have likely impacted call numbers, including population growth and Washington’s liquor privatization in 2012.

“What we really need to look at in the coming years is the impact of the privatization of the alcohol,” he said.

But he believes keeping the impact area designation will help maintain lower levels of liquor-related offenses.

“I think it’s important to the downtown area and I believe it should continue,” he told the city’s Public Safety Committee on Monday.

Councilwoman Amber Waldref told Yamada she wants to make sure the list of banned types of alcohol is updated to remain current as products are developed.

“If we’re not constantly updating the list, then we’re not being effective,” she said.