By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
July 22, 2011

Shelves at the former Git-n-Go in Northeast won’t be filled with liquor any time soon.

For 21 years, the property at 5402 Winner Rd. operated with a packaged liquor license, but when the previous tenants let the liquor license expire, new liquor license density requirements prevented the owners from obtaining a new one.

Both City of Kansas City Council members Melba Curls and Jermaine Reed lobbied on behalf of the property owners, Michael and Joe Siragusa, by proposing an ordinance change to waive the density requirement from 9th Street on the north, Oakley Avenue on the west, East 11th Street on the south and Hardesty Avenue to the east.

However, the proposal ignited controversy and area residents, Dist. 40 State Rep. John Rizzo and managers of the apartment complex across the street voiced disapproval.

Regulated Industries Manager Gary Majors said both he and the Alcoholic Beverage and Advisory Group did not recommend the proposed density waiver.

Now, the Siragusas are no longer pursuing a liquor license, Reed told Northeast News.

“I shared with them how the community feels about this issue and how it’s not necessarily something that’s needed in the community. I asked them to reconsider (the request for a liquor license) and they have,” Reed said.

Reed said he originally proposed the density waiver to give the Siragusas a fair hearing as a small business. However, the city staff recommendations changed his mind, he said. Reed, who also serves on the Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee, said he will vote “No” for the density waiver proposal during the July 27 committee meeting.

Both John Sharp and Michael Brooks also voiced disapproval of the proposal.

“I think the last thing we need in the 3rd District is another liquor store,” Brooks said during the June 29 public safety meeting.

Northeast News contacted Sharp to find out more and how he thinks the committee will vote during the July 27 meeting.

“I was very concerned that the other operations of the (future Git-n-Go) tenant, Discount Smokes and Liquor, appeared to be nothing more than liquor and tobacco stores with a few items for sale that you’d normally think of as being stocked in a convenience store,” Sharp said. “I visited two of the sites (located in Raytown and Grandview) and one carried neither bread nor milk and the other didn’t carry bread and only had one gallon of milk in the bottom corner of the cooler and it was out of date.

“If these were true convenience stores, my attitude might have been different.”

The two Discount Smokes and Liquor stores also sold individual cans and bottles of beer, which could lead to onsite drinking and loitering, he said.

Sharp said the committee will most likely vote to hold the issue off the docket and place it on the semi-annual docket. Unless a motion is made later to resurrect the issue, the density waiver proposal will die.