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184E640
14 July 25 • 2013
Oak Park residents react to vote
allowing sale of alcohol by the glass.
Yaffa Klugerman
Special to the Jewish News
R
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Historic Measure
JN
estaurant diners in Oak Park
soon will be able to toast a
l'chaim (to life!), although
some may not feel like celebrating.
Last week, Oak Park's City Council
approved an ordinance that will grant
tavern licenses to some restaurants,
allowing the sale of wine and beer by
the glass. The decision is significant
because Oak Park has banned such
sales since it was incorporated in
1945.
"Allowing family
restaurants to serve
beer and wine with
meals is the first
step in a detailed
plan to revive a
thriving business
area in our city,"
Marian
said Mayor Marian
McClellan. An
McClellan
improved business
community, she explained, would
pay a larger share of taxes so the city
would not have to depend entirely on
strapped homeowners.
The City Council has the author-
ity to allow tavern licenses without
a vote by residents. McClellan noted
that before proceeding with the mea-
sure, the council held two Town Hall
meetings to gather resident input and
answer concerns.
"City Council has moved very care-
fully on this issue and investigated it
thoroughly," she said.
But many feel City Council ulti-
mately did not listen to what they say
is the majority of its people.
"I think that many residents would
have preferred a referendum to
vote on this," said Councilman Paul
Levine, who cast the only dissenting
vote. He added that doing so would
have been a legally complicated pro-
cess.
The tavern licenses only will be
granted to establishments that meet
certain criteria, including having a
minimum of 40 seats and 10 items on
the menu, and being located at least
500 feet from a school, park or place
of worship. Establishments must also
limit income from alcohol to 50 per-
cent of total sales and stop selling it
after midnight.
According to Levine, only 10 res-
taurants in Oak Park currently meet
the criteria. Of those, only four are
interested in obtaining a tavern
license. None of the restaurants that
qualify are kosher, he said.
Zeana Attisha, who co-owns the
Sahara Restaurant & Grill at Coolidge
and 1-696, had pushed for the legisla-
tion, arguing that local restaurants
could not compete with those in other
cities. She described the challenges
she faced running an establishment
without being permitted to serve
alcohol: No drinks could be offered
to customers interested in scheduling
banquets. People who watched sports
events could not have beer.
"Whether it's for an anniversary or
a bat mitzvah," said Attisha, "people
like to have a glass of wine."
requests that involve "nudity or top-
less activity?'
She added that approval for licenses
would be at the discretion of the City
Council, which is committed to "the
same values of a vibrant, safe city that
other residents hold:'
"There is no slippery slope,"
McClellan insisted. "None of the
things being alleged are allowed by
the ordinance?'
Attisha, now pushing for a measure
to allow the sale of hard liquor, dis-
missed concerns about how selling
alcohol might negatively impact Oak
Park.
"I think of alcohol as a menu item:'
she said. "It has nothing to do with
the character of the city?'
Concerns Surface
Yet many Oak Park residents remain
unconvinced.
"The people of
Oak Park do not
want beer and wine
sold by the glass:'
said Aaron Tobin
of Oak Park, who
is running for City
Council. "We do not
As.
Aaron Tobin
have a downtown,
and we are a very
suburban community. We have a lot
of people walking. Drunk drivers mis-
take stop signs, they jump curbs and
they hit pedestrians. This is a major
reason why Oak Park is against it?'
Tobin added that residents are
concerned that Oak Park's already-
reduced police force will be sum-
moned to break up fights in the
restaurants. Others worry the new
regulation will soon lead to the sale of
liquor and the opening of adult enter-
tainment establishments.
"I think it's a bad
thing," said Ruth
Goodman, owner of
Sara's Glatt Kosher
Deli and Restaurant
i in the Jewish
Community Center
in Oak Park. "Now
Ruth Goodman that they can have
alcohol, what's to
stop them from opening strip clubs?"
When asked about this possibility,
McClellan said the ordinance stipu-
lates the city will not consider permit
Both Attisha and Tobin agreed, how-
ever, that a recent news report by the
Detroit Free Press falsely portrayed the
Oak Park Orthodox Jewish population
as the primary opponents of the legisla-
tion.
"The Orthodox are a great, close-
knit community," Attisha said. "Some
are for it, and some are against it, like
any class of people:'
"This issue has nothing to do with
Orthodox versus non-Orthodox:'
Tobin explained. "This has everything
to do with listening to the voice of the
people:'
David Abraham, owner of Dave's
Gourmet on Lincoln Road in Oak
Park, said he believes Oak Park
should allow alcoholic beverages by
the glass, and not just beer and wine.
His kosher restaurant is too small
to be granted a tavern license, but
he feels alcohol sales could increase
profits.
"I don't think selling alcohol by
the glass is a big safety concern, as
some are arguing," he said. "I'm much
more concerned with the safety issues
caused by 24-hour stores like 7-11
selling alcohol by the bottle:'
Nevertheless, Abraham was upset
City Council approved the measure
when so many constituents were
clearly opposed to it.
"From the conversations I've had
at my restaurant, it seems that most
Orthodox Jews are not against the
proposal in principle," he said, "but
quite a few are upset at the way it was
forced on them?'
Orthodox Viewpoints
❑