Appeal
from Tuscaloosa Circuit Court (CV-18-900925)
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Michael S. Burroughs, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.
James
P. Woodson III, Office of the City Attorney, Tuscaloosa, for
appellee.
EDWARDS,
Judge.
Saba
Ahmed Taleb owns the Fast Stop Market ("FSM"),
which is located in Tuscaloosa. She applied to the City of
Tuscaloosa, seeking approval for an off-premises retail beer
license and an off-premises retail wine license ("the
retail alcohol licenses") so that she could sell wine
and beer, to be consumed off the premises, at FSM. The city
council first considered Taleb's applications for the
retail alcohol licenses at a city-council meeting on July 24,
2018; the minutes of the July 24, 2018, city-council meeting
indicate that one person appeared at the council meeting and
spoke in opposition to Taleb's applications. The city
council tabled Taleb's applications until July 31, 2018,
at which time it heard from Taleb's husband and the
manager of FSM, Yaqoob Alshega; a representative of the
Tuscaloosa Police Department, Officer J.D. Burkhalter; the
city attorney, Glenda Webb; and concerned citizens, Eddie
Harris, Deborah Williams, Elizabeth Elliot, and an
unidentified speaker. Councilor Eddie Pugh and Councilor
Raevan Howard both made remarks on the record, and Antonious
Mills from the city's revenue department also answered
questions posed by the city council.
Officer
Burkhalter presented the police calls received from the area
within a quarter-mile radius of FSM by the Tuscaloosa Police
Department between January 2017 and June 2018. He explained
that the police department had received the following calls:
43 related to domestic incidents, 23 related to the breaking
and entering of a vehicle, 19 related to assaults, 9 related
to discharging a firearm and 1 "gun call," 8
related to burglary, 8 related to drug use
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or sale, 2 related to sexual offenses, 2 related to vehicle
theft, 1 related to driving while intoxicated, 1 related to
rape, and 1 related to robbery. Officer Burkhalter also
indicated that the police department had no objection to
Taleb's applications. He later, when questioned by
Councilor Pugh, stated that the police department had record
of seven vehicular accidents in the vicinity of FSM. Mills,
when asked, reminded the city council that three
establishments located between one and five miles from FSM
had retail alcohol licenses to sell beer and/or wine.
Alshega
spoke before the city council in support of Taleb's
applications. Alshega presented a petition in support of the
applications containing 85 signatures. He also stated that
FSM had never had the police called to the store and that FSM
had had "no problems."
Local
resident Harris stated that he opposed the applications. He
explained that he did so because, "if we keep allowing
other people to come in and sell alcohol, it's going to
get worse and worse." Similarly, local resident Elliot
commented that "what we do not need [is] this ...
alcohol sold in our neighborhood because if you start selling
alcohol in our neighborhood, then there's going to be
problems. People are going to start hanging around these
stores." The unidentified speaker also voiced
disapproval of the applications, stating that "we all
know what [the sale of alcohol] brings to the
neighborhood." Local resident Williams appeared to be in
favor of the applications, remarking that FSM was located
closer to her residence than the nearest existing retailer
with a license to sell alcohol and that it would be easier
for her to shop there than to travel to the nearest existing
retailer, which is approximately one-half mile away from FSM.
Councilor
Pugh remarked that Webb had provided the city council with
certain studies during the "pre-council" and that
those studies concerned "how alcohol contributed to
crime in neighborhoods." Councilor Pugh also stated that
"we're doing so much to move West End forward that
[issuing the retail alcohol licenses] looks like it would be
something that would be moving [West End] back. Alcohol and
crime is an issue everywhere and we don't need to be
adding it to this neighborhood and this district."
Councilor Pugh further remarked that "it looks like
there's a pretty good issue with maybe some traffic
safety in this area" and commented that the council
should carefully consider "[t]he safety of adding
something like this" in what he described as "that
dangerous turn" in the roadway upon which FSM sits.
Webb
mentioned that she had provided the city council with two
studies during the "pre-council": one from the
United States Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justices
Statistics, and one from the University of
Indiana.[1] According to Webb, the Department of
Justice study concerned "alcohol and crime and the
relationship between alcohol and crime"; she noted that
the study "documented for 20 years the relationship
between alcohol and crime." She also said that the 2010
University of Indiana study concluded that "more alcohol
sale sites mean more neighborhood violence."
Councilor
Phyllis Odom reported that the city council had received four
letters in support of the applications and five telephone
calls from residents ...