I ran across this last night, and it reminded my how bad the fashion was 20 years ago. This isn't really Tacoma or Washington related; instead, the entire nation should be blamed for allowing threads and hairstyles like this:

Paul Namkung is bracing himself for a big financial hit. His convenience store, K&J Food Mart on the Eastside, stocks 40-ounce bottles of Mickey’s, Olde English 800 and other high-octane beers.

They drinks make up for about 20 percent of his store’s revenue, he said. And, Namkung adds, it’s not like he owns a large chain of stores that could absorb the drop in revenues. It’s a one-store show.

“It will hurt people like me,” he said, “but if the city wants to make these new rules, there’s no stopping them. They’ll just do it.”

Bert Hayes, a community liaison officer with the Tacoma Police Department, said no stores in the original Alcohol Impact Area lost revenue. And some, he said, saw a bump in sales because the improved clientele drew more customers.

Tim Herzog’s Tacoma Avenue convenience store, Tim’s Handy Mart, is within the boundaries of the first AIA. He said a lot of people were anxious ahead of the change because they weren’t sure what would happen, but the change has helped improve the area.

“We never missed a beat,” he said. “The people they wanted to get rid of pretty much left. And all the stores in the area adapted because we were all on the same playing field.

“It was a fantastic idea.”

And if ban forces a business into closure, Councilman Rick Talbert said, that’s indicative of a larger problem.

“Quite honestly, if 40 or 50 percent of your sales are that product, you have to start questioning whether that particular business owner is being a good community member,” he said.

Bert Hayes cut himself off in mid-sentence, swiveled his chair around, opened a file cabinet in his office and began rummaging through its contents. He produced a spiral notebook with a well-worn cover and thumbed through its pages.

Hayes, a community liaison officer with the Tacoma Police Department, is passionate about fighting chronic public drunkenness. His logbook provided a stark demonstration of the scope of the problem on the Eastside and South End.

“Business owner complaining about narcotics and alcohol,” read Hayes. “Transient problem. Alcohol problem. Another alcohol problem. I just opened to a random page.”
And that was just the morning of April 1, 2006.

“I can go through any book and flip page after page after page after page and probably a full half of some of my months were transient-related, alcohol-related, panhandling-related problems. If we can eliminate these problems, it frees up a huge amount of time to devote to other problems.”

That’s the purpose of the proposed alcohol impact area in Tacoma’s East Side and South End. The AIA bans the sale of certain low-price, high-alcohol brands of drinks – like Olde English 800 and Johnny Bootlegger – that police and fire departments have directly tied to chronic public inebriation. Businesses that violate the law face fines, suspensions or revocations of their licenses, or both.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to approve the proposed AIA, which is bounded by Interstate 5 to the west and north, Portland Avenue to the east and the city limits to the south. The final step is a hearing in front of the State Liquor Control Board, which will likely be next month or March. If enacted, it would become Tacoma’s second AIA and Washington’s fifth.

The idea is simple: If the booze is too expensive, its customers will either look elsewhere or stop buying it. But it’s not just about alcohol, Councilman Rick Talbert said.

“What we want to do is have them seek treatment and get out of that lifestyle altogether,” he said. “It’s not just a guy passed out in the street. The fire department is called, the emergency rooms are filled, and you and I are paying for all those services.”

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Still want to check out more Tall Ships mastmaking? Joe Barrentine and Russ Carmack were with me yesterday and, as always, contributed some fine visuals. Here are links to Joe’s video and Russ’ slideshow.

Meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. That'll take up all of my morning and part of my afternoon, but I'll duck out later and check out what's going on.