Latino State News
Alcohol Ban in Portion of West Humboldt Park Shows Results
Last month, voters in West Humboldt Park voted to ban liquor sales in a section of their ward, and as a result, crime and violence has dropped.
Executive Director of the United Blocks of West Humboldt Park Kurt Gippert said that 10 people were shot outside one particular store, Pagan Liquors, at 3251 W. Division St., so the neighborhood residents took advantage of a 77-year-old rule that allows them to ban liquor sales with a referendum.
“One shooting is one too many. It’s tragic,” said Gippert. “We know the police are understaffed as a whole in the entire city, but in a busy district like this, what it does is it leaves people like us with very few options.”
Before the referendum, Gippert said people would gather, sell drugs, and throw up gang signs, but since last month’s vote, “our neighborhood immediately, overnight, transformed. So the proof was there that this was what we needed to do,” said Gippert.
