Annex Neighbors Not Giving Up On Liquor Store

Annex neighbors are planning another trip to Hartford in their uphill quest to stop a storeowner from getting a liquor license on Farren Avenue.

During a meeting at Walk of Faith Church Thursday night, Linda Davis (pictured above), the neighborhood specialist from the Livable City Initaitive (LCI) anti-blight agency, helped a core group prepare for an upcoming hearing with the State Liquor Commission, where they plan to argue that owner Roshan Patel should not be able to open Gemstone Liquors at 222 Farren Ave.

Davis, who lives in the neighborhood, brought a large-scale map of the half-mile radius surrounding the store, which pinpoints locations of recent burglaries and robberies, nearby schools and residences, and existing liquor stores. Neighbors looked over the map and discussed their arguments.

Gemstone Liquors is in an area already burdened by criminal activity and a ​“lack of social structure,” said Walk of Faith pastor Walter Williams. A fifth liquor store in the vicinity would lead to spikes in crime and have a ​“detrimental effect to schools and churches in the community,” he said.

Though they may succeed in delaying the store’s opening, neighbors are unlikely to succeed in stopping the license, said Ressinia Driffin, a state agent in the Department of Consumer Protection’s Liquor Control Division. At the first community meeting on the subject, on Dec 2., she said the state rarely overturns city zoning decisions; Gemstone has won zoning approval. She suggested the community wait a year for the permit to expire, while keeping track of ​“infractions” to oppose its renewal.

Contacted by the Independent Friday, Patel said he had planned to attend that first meeting, but his lawyer advised him not to. He said he has not been contacted by anyone from the community since. Patel is required to be at the hearing, which will be scheduled some time in the next couple of months.

“They don’t know that by law we can be there,” he said of his potential neighbors-to-be. ​“Let us at least try out the liquor store at least for a couple of months. If problems arise, we’re open to relocating” after the first year. He owns a store called Gem Liquors at 65 Lamberton St. in the Hill neighborhood, which has no public record of complaints against it.

Some are trying to use the momentum from the liquor store battle as a catalyst for unity and communication in their neighborhood. Tom Burwell (pictured left), co-chair of Ward 14’s Democratic committee, said he has spoken with representatives from five community organizations, all of whom have promised to write letters of objection for the state hearing.

He and others have discussed using Walk of Faith church as a monthly meeting to address neighborhood concerns.

At the Dec. 2 meeting, neighbors and alders did not know that the store’s request for a liquor license had passed through the local zoning board; by the time it got to the state level, they had lost most leverage to stop the request.

“Efforts have been fragmented in this particular area,” said Esther Armmand (pictured), a neighbor and a former city alder from 1992 to 2001. She suggested the group research how to change local zoning laws to include neighbors from the beginning, in a way that takes into account effects on their mental and physical well-being.

“We might want to suggest at some future point that they not only deal with the physical zone implication but also the social impact on the immediate area,” she said.

“Sunlight is the best antiseptic,” said Mark Firla, who lives about half a mile away from Gemstone Liquors. ​“The more open the process is, the more opportunity it affords for the community to have some input.”

Burwell led a protest Dec. 12 in front of the store. Picketers ​“decorated the building with masking tape” and covered nearby traffic and phone poles with neon orange fliers titled ​“Gemstone Liquors VS. The Neighborhood.” Soon after, he went back and found that the tape and fliers were gone.

“I have to give him credit,” he said of Patel, assuming the owner had taken care of the mess.

But Patel told the Independent he hadn’t removed the items. ​“I didn’t drop by the protest. By the time I got there, someone else took them.”