The issuance of permits for liquor stores has been the hot button issue in Shreveport City hall for many years.
For the longest time the Shreveport City Council was the final decision maker in this permitting process. During the Perkins administration the Shreveport City Council passed this decision-making process to the MPC. who had previously just made recommendations for council action.
Here are some of the perceptions currently flaming the fire under the MPC on liquor stores:
1. That all applications for liquor stores, especially in minority areas, are approved by the MPC
2. That liquor stores are only opening in minority neighborhoods
3. That liquor stores in minority areas are preying on that population
4. That minority area liquor stores are responsible for crime in those areas
5. That the market is not driving the opening of liquor stores,--in other words it is not the demand that drives the entrepreneurs to open liquor stores in minority neighborhoods
6. That many of the customers of minority neighborhood liquor stores live outside that area, i.e. in more affluent white neighborhoods
7. That a government entity should limit the number of liquor stores in the city, and especially in minority areas
8. That the MPC is the liquor store bogeyman
Here are a few of the realities that should counter/contradict these perceptions:
A. That customer demand drives business owners--that's why Neiman Marcus has not opened a store in Cedar Grove, Southern Hills, MLK, South Highlands, Queensborough, Provenance, Stoner Hill, or even Southern Trace;
B. That liquor store permits cannot be arbitrarily issued and denied by either the MPC or the Shreveport City Council without regard to city ordinances;
C. That the City Council cannot set a limit on the number of liquor store permits in the city of Shreveport.
Obviously, the current brouhaha over the issue of liquor store permits needs resolution. Showdowns at city council meetings between council members and the MPC executive director only make for press headlines, not progress.
And during the holiday season the MPC liquor permit circus at the Thurs. Dec. 19 council meeting does little to promote peace on earth and good will to men, much less to the embattled MPC director and his staff.