Neighbors Cite Crime in Opposing Liquor Permit

Community concern that liquor sales add to neighborhood crime has spread from the northeast San Fernando Valley south to Van Nuys, where homeowners are asking the city to reject an ethnic market’s request to sell African and other imported beers and wine.

The market’s Ethiopian owners, Arega Yirdaw and Belinesh Sahile, have applied to the city of Los Angeles for a license to sell beer and wine from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at Mom’s Mini Market, 7400 Van Nuys Blvd.

Although the state issues liquor licenses, the city must approve such requests first, said William Lillenberg, an associate planning administrator. He said the store will specialize in African and Arabic foods when it opens later this month.

Crime-Ridden Area

A spokesman for the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. said the group opposes the license because the store is in a crime-ridden neighborhood near Valerio Street, where people linger drinking beer and cheap wine.

Last month, residents and merchants in the northeast Valley announced that 22 stores had agreed to guidelines limiting liquor sales. The voluntary guidelines call for a halt to liquor sales after 10 p.m. and a ban on the sale of cups and loose ice, among a number of other restrictions, in an effort to reduce drunk driving and other alcohol-related crimes in the area.

“Unless we take a stand now against liquor-related crime and loitering, we’re going to be inundated with the same problems as they have elsewhere in the Valley,” said Don Schultz, a board member of the Van Nuys homeowners group. “The basic problem is that this part of Van Nuys is a high-crime area. To add additional beer and wine in a neighborhood like that is to encourage and exacerbate the problem.”

City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, whose district includes parts of Van Nuys, said Tuesday that he supports the homeowners because he is concerned about crime in the area.

There were 458 crimes last year in the police reporting district where the mini-market is located, fewer than the city average of 546 per district, Lillenberg said. But in the adjacent police reporting district, which is across Van Nuys Boulevard from the market, there were 1,229 crimes in 1988, or more than twice the city average.

Highest Arrest Rate

In addition, police officers arrested 2,895 drunk drivers in the Van Nuys Division last year--more than in any of the Los Angeles Police Department’s 17 other divisions, said Sgt. Dennis Zine, a traffic safety supervisor for the department. Police made 2,849 drunk-driving arrests in the northeast Valley in the same period.

But Jon Mejia, a spokesman for the owners of Mom’s Mini Market, said sloppy ownership often contributes to liquor-related problems in a neighborhood. He said the owners should be given a chance to prove whether they are responsible proprietors before the license is denied.

Lillenberg said he will make a decision by the end of the week. The decision may be appealed to the city Board of Zoning Appeals within 15 days.