A Washington, D.C. community came together in an attempt to stop  the Safeway grocery store on 17th Street in Northwest from selling beer. The community argued it would hurt locally owned and operated businesses. An excerpt of Perry Stein’s Washington Post article, A grocery store wanted to sell beer. A well-organized neighborhood made its best attempt to stop it, is below:

While a divided Congress fought over health care and tax reform, a battle in a divided neighborhood in the nation’s capital was being waged with campaign-style yard signs, packed community meetings and the pithy slogan “food not booze.”

The quarrel was over a liquor license at a Safeway grocery store on 17th Street NW that residents have long dubbed the “Soviet Safeway” because of its reputation for long lines and empty shelves.

The Dupont Circle grocery store and community leaders reached a settlement late Tuesday allowing Safeway to receive a liquor license on restricted terms, but the drawn-out debate resurfaced old questions in fast-changing D.C. about the level of input residents should have in the operations of a private business.

And the resistance, residents say, was never just about the booze.

The grocery store applied for a liquor license earlier this year, but residents argued it would bring competition to locally owned businesses. They also opposed alcohol taking coveted shelf space that could be used for food at a cramped store. [Read More]

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