At the Arden Arcade Community Planning Advisory Council (CPAC) last night (5/28/15) members of the community spoke against the 24 hour 7-11 proposed for the former Shell station at Howe and Hurley. That site, like the 2300 Watt Avenue site, is in an area where there is already an over-concentration of off-premise liquor licenses and which has been designated a high crime area by the Sheriff. The CPAC voted 3-1 to recommend against the 7-11 proposal. And we certainly thank them for that.

Not that it matters, of course. The County has lots of tricks up its sleeve. For one thing, the Board of Supervisors will once again have to hold a "Public Convenience or Necessity" (PCN) hearing, which will give the Supervisors an opportunity to ignore public input and decide that it's really crucial for people to buy take-out liquor at this site, despite the fact there are already 10 perfectly good other places within 1.3 miles to do that. And never mind that the CA ABC has declared the magic number for take-out booze sales to be 2 in the immediate area, which already has 3 places.

So is another convenience store selling liquor really needed? When just .7 miles away there is already a 7-11 at Howe and Fulton, a corner that boasts 5 different places to get take-out booze? When there is a Valero convenience/liquor store kitty-corner from the site? The developer's rep told the CPAC it would be great for "the folks in the neighborhood" to have a convenience store just chock full of healthy food choices. Yup. Gluten-free Slurpees and free-range Cheetos at the "Mini Whole Foods" serving a "neighborhood" where no one lives. At a very congested intersection. And they want to be open 24x7.