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LAKE EFFECT NEWS
By Lorrainne Swanson, Editor

Update: We want to thank CVS for listening to the needs of the community and rescinding their plans for selling liquor at their Loyola location.

Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th Ward) is giving a neighborhood block club ten days to reach a consensus before he decides whether to back a national pharmacy chain’s application for a city liquor license at one of its Rogers Park stores.

CVS representatives along with their attorney met with members of the Loyola Area Neighbors Association to discuss their plans to carry packaged liquor at their new store in The Morgan At Loyola. CVS wants to add 24 feet of shelf space to sell beer and wine.

O’Connor told residents that CVS’s attorney approached him after the store opened in July, who agreed not to apply for a liquor license until store representatives could meet with community residents. Liquor license applications need the support of the local alderman or they stand a slim chance of getting approved by the city.

Aware of residents’ concerns about underage drinking at Loyola University’s Lake Shore Campus, district manager John Boyk explained how CVS has worked with other communities to minimize any negative impacts of selling packaged liquor. CVS has invested in electronic readers at each of its 7,000 stores nationwide that scan driver’s licenses and state IDs to eliminate underage alcohol and tobacco sales.

CVS has also restricted the hours of alcohol sales, installed locks on coolers and eliminated certain alcohol products sold at its stores, such as single cans of beer, half pints and malt liquor, in other communities. Although not legally binding in a Chicago liquor license, Boyk said that CVS would set up similar covenants with O’Connor to allay nearby neighbors’ concerns about its application to sell beer and wine.

Liquor sales constitute between 10 and 20 percent of sales at other CVS stores that carry alcohol. Packaged beer and wine would be tailored to community tastes. Boyk added that CVS aims to carry alcohol in all of its stores nationwide.

“Based on our experience around the country, there is a lot we can do,” Boyk said. “We’re adaptable to what the community wants us to do to protect schools or cut down on vagrants.”

CVS’s plans to apply for a liquor license for its store at The Morgan immediately came under fire from residents. Residents claimed that they were already burned by a 7-Eleven at 6401 N. Sheridan in the 49th Ward which they maintained is one of the main sources of alcohol sales to Loyola students. Others voiced complaints of noise on quiet neighborhood streets and yards littered with beer cans and bottles, allegedly by Loyola students who over imbibed, especially on weekends.

“This is a courtesy to the community meet with you and the alderman. Generally, we would have gone ahead and applied,” Larry Cohen said, the attorney representing CVS’s application.

Explaining his ties to Rogers Park, Cohen grew up and attended school in the neighborhood, Cohen added, “Apparently you have problems that pre-exist this meeting.”
Residents also claimed that Loyola University broke its promise to the community to not allow packaged liquor to be sold on university-owned land when Loyola entered its development agreement for The Morgan with McCaffrey Interests.

“I don’t know why we’re having this discussion now,” a resident said. “When the neighborhood was sold on the development, what we were sold on was no packaged liquor. Why did Loyola University change its mind?”

O’Connor acknowledged that his original understanding of the master agreement between Loyola and the developer McCaffrey Interests was that no packed liquor would be sold around the school. ““It would be helpful to know if Loyola has a position,” O’Connor said.
Clifford Gatz, associate student dean for Loyola University, stated that the university would not oppose the liquor license application.

Only one resident said he was excited about the prospect of alcohol being carried at the CVS store. “I’m probably the only pro-liquor license person here,” Rogers Park-resident David Chase said. “There are a large portion of renters in the neighborhood who don’t have a decent place to pick up a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine on their way home from work.”

Boyk said that CVS would add other merchandise to its inventory if there was no aldermanic and community support for its application.

O’Connor said that most purveyors abided by covenants added to liquor licenses in the 40th Ward. He believed that CVS would adhere to any agreements with the community.
“Part of my job is to balance the concerns of businesses and the residential community,” O’Connor said. “If the answer still came back and the community said it ain’t happening, than that’s the position I’d take. I’ve been doing this too long to fight over liquor licenses. At the same time, we are a community looking to bring in responsible business. I was to give people a fair shot and fair hearing.”

O’Connor said he would meet with neighborhood representatives in the next few weeks. “We’re going to try and sit down and see if there’s a way to hammer out a compromise,” the alderman said. “If we can great; if we can’t, the neighborhood organization is going to have the last work.”

CVS has not yet applied for a city liquor license. Applications must be filed with the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Notices are mailed to registered voters living within 250 feet of the business. The community is granted a 40-day period to submit comments opposing the issuance of the license.

Mary Kate Fleming, of the Loyola Area Neighbors Association, voiced dismay with Loyola University, saying it had “back-stepped” on packaged liquor being sold on university-owned property. The block has already collected 100 signatures from residents in a two-block area around Lakewood, Arthur, Sheridan and Magnolia, which have been submitted to the alderman.

“It’s nothing personal. I know [CVS] is trying to run a business, Fleming said. “I want to know where [Boyk and Cohen] live and for them to come hang out for one weekend and see what these poor people have to deal with. It’s incredible, the garbage, the beer cans and babies being woken up. College students don’t access to a liquor store on the campus of a Jesuit university.”