Naperville City Council Wants Alcohol For Everybody

Somebody at Starbucks on Naper at 75th street, must have really upset a Naperville city official, because that Starbucks was denied a liquor license. Every other business in Naperville requesting a liquor license seems to have no problem being allowed to sell alcohol. Makes no difference if you specialize in selling chocolate candy, or cutting hair or a soon-to-be teaching floral-arrangement business, Naperville city officials are all too eager to get the alcohol flowing out those doors.

The question is no longer, ‘why do city officials want liquor flowing throughout Naperville’, the question is why not make it available to anybody and everybody who wants a license to sell alcohol? The Naperville city council is doing it anyway. Rather than granting licenses one at a time and wasting everyone’s time with a bureaucratic process, why not simply write an ordinance allowing alcohol for all. Naperville city officials like to be trend-setters, be it good or bad trends, why not make a huge statement and say, “you want alcohol, you can have alcohol”.

Let’s finally see how many people and vehicles the City of Naperville can cram into the confined area of downtown Naperville, and how much alcohol can be sold before the saturation point is reached.

The most-recent business requesting an alcohol license is Creations by Stem, it’s a floral arrangement business wanting to serve wine and beer when teaching flower arrangement classes. I’m guessing that flowing alcohol will allow participants to better focus on creative skills. Ingesting alcohol seems to help all areas of needed focus.

The Naperville Liquor Commission recommended approval, which is now heading to the Naperville city council for the final vote to approve. More tax dollars for the City from liquor sales, more money for the City from license fees ($2,200 annually), more fines from potential candidates for DUI, more business for local attorneys, more beds filled at Edward Hospital, more business for funeral homes, casket makers, and grave diggers. Sounds terrible doesn’t it, but the trade-off is more dollars for almost everybody, and isn’t that exactly what Naperville city officials want. It must be, because they are making it happen.

It gets us back to why not allow every business or group a Class M license, which allows a business to sell alcohol as  secondary to their main business. Cut hair, sell alcohol; arrange flowers, sell alcohol; provide chocolate, sell alcohol. See how easy that is. A one-page form approved on the spot at the city clerks office. Come with a check book or cash and the license is yours. No questions asked.

The more I am thinking about this, the more I like it. How about a Class-M license for a daycare center. If parents are waiting for their kids to get out of school, sell a few drinks on the side for stressed-out parents. How about at the library. Easy to focus with a few brews. How about at the DMV while waiting in line for your number to be called for your driver’s test. Why not set up a bar at the Municipal Center (Village Hall) while folks are waiting for their 3-minutes of public forum.

We can’t leave out the Naperville council members. Maybe a couple of drinks during the council meeting will make it easier for them to listen to their peers speak endlessly about the same content over and over again, while waiting for another unanimous vote.

Think of the possibilities. Stop with the one license at-a-time. Let’s drink to that.

Show 6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Jim Haselhorst

    The primary business of Starbucks is the sell of beverages, so a Class M license would not be appropriate for any Starbucks in Naperville (i.e. no city council vendetta required). As to increased availability, it is normal for any business to adopt a business model that would best fill its customer’s needs, and as such seek out a community that supports that business model to establish their business in. These are niche businesses which means by nature they are small operations and it takes months for them to serve the volume of alcohol a bar sells in a single night.

    There are already several businesses in Naperville that have had this type of license for years without causing any problems. To imply that such businesses have a “let it flow” attitude is simply irresponsible. There are serious legal liabilities for any business that decides to provide alcohol to it’s patrons. These businesses can and are motivated to control the type and rate of consumption in ways that drinking establishments simply can’t or won’t. And all of the drinking related problems in our city and others come from over-consumption/serving, which these type of establishment are highly motivated to avoid.

    The existence of these business has gone unnoticed by most residents because of the lack of problems and fact that they do not have big signs advertising liquor. They do have small signs to tell people that might chose to avoid any liquor serving establishments that they serve alcohol. The present of these businesses has not resulted in our community being viewed as an “alcohol for everyone” city, and given the low key way these businesses operate it is outrages to imply this would ever happen.

  2. Grant W.

    Remember that the council has refused drinking water at meetings…so if we can get them to buy their own rounds…cha-ching! $$$

  3. Gerard H Schilling

    Who is the liquor board other then the Mayor? Do they have open meetings to discuss applications? Does the Mayor still get 25k for being the chairman which btw is inexcusable? Are the other members also paid and if so how much? Why do we even need such a group as council who is also paid can easily do these minor tasks.

    Time to flush the toilet and get rid of this anachronism if not potential bribery opportunity for some of our politicians.

      • Gerard H Schilling

        Thanks for the info but are they paid and if so how much? 7 commissioners and the Mayor sure sounds like overkill especially if we are paying them. Then again bureaucrats always seem to reproduce regardless of need and especially if they are paid legally or illegally.

        • Kevin

          From what I understand they do not get paid. They are like all other city commissions and boards, they are volunteers.

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