Liquor compromise in works

San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer drafted a letter to the ABC on June 15 requesting limitations on the license. At a City Council meeting last night, she said the new store owners were close to agreeing to most or all the requirements.

The ABC can't enforce these requirements unless the store voluntarily agrees to abide by them.

School officials and parents urged the council to rid their neighborhood of a problematic liquor store by capitalizing on a small sliver of time before its liquor license is transferred to another owner. The store is within 100 feet of a school and often caters to an unsavory crowd, but a loophole in the law allows the license to remain and be transferred between owners.

The store opened in 1965, before the law prohibited the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of a school. It's liquor license is grandfathered and its transfer is permissible. Store owner Kamar Braish said she and her husband are responsible owners and the neighborhood's problems go deeper than her store.

"We are part of that community too. We respect the kids at the school and the families," said Braish who has two young children who visit the store.

"Reports that the store caters to a rough crowd and that it sells pornographic material are simply not true," she said.

Instead, Braish said her husband has owned the business for 10 years and tried to maintain a respectable business despite a recent health setback causing the sale of the store. The couple has a 10 year old and an 8 year old who both almost attended North Shoreview.

However, parents want to seize the opportunity to clean up their neighborhood by petitioning for a restricted license.

"I've had parents personally tell me they don't feel safe dropping their kids off," said Principal Bessie Stewart-Ross.

The area is regularly littered with beer bottles and homeless looking people often scare the children, parents argued.

Councilwoman Sue Lempert said the response is bringing light to the situation both at a local and state level.

"There really needs to be some legislation in terms of the right to sell your ownership especially when its right across the street from a school," Lempert said.

In other business:

Tom Mohr, former superintendent of the San Mateo Union High School District, was appointed to the city's personnel board last night.

Taxi cab rates were raised by 25 percent to $2.60 for a flag drop and $2.60 for each additional mile. A representative's request to raise the rate an additional 10 cents was denied.

The council approved the percent for art ordinance, which requires new developments in San Mateo to contribute a half percent of their projected costs to build public art on the property or contribute a fund for public art elsewhere.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.