By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
July 6, 2011

For nearly a year and a half the former Git-n-Go at 5402 Winner Rd. has sat vacant.

Owners of the property,  Joe and Michael Siragusa, want to find new tenants, but said all of the prospects want a packaged liquor license. That’s something the Siragusas currently don’t have.

Since 1958, the Sirgusas have owned the property and for 21 years, the store has operated with a packaged liquor license. However, when the previous tenants, two brothers, had a dispute and let the liquor license expire it created a problem.

Due to density requirements, the Siragusas could no longer obtain a liquor license.

Both City of Kansas City Council members Melba Curls and Jermaine Reed lobbied on behalf of the Siragusas 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.

Members of the Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee discussed the proposal during their June 29 meeting.

Jim Ready, assistant manager at Regulated Industries, told Northeast News that most areas of the city can only have one liquor license per 1,500 population within a 3,000-foot radius.

Asked why the city adopted a density requirement for liquor licensing, he said, “So an area doesn’t get over-saturated with a liquor store on every corner of the neighborhood. It’s neighborhood protection.”

During the public safety meeting, Regulated Industries Manager Gary Majors told the committee that both he and the Alcoholic Beverage Advisory Group (ABAG) recommended not to adopt the change.

Previous tenants of the Get-n-Go operated the business as mainly a packaged liquor store with a few items of convenience, Majors said.

“It’s a pretty small building, so there’s not a lot of room inside the store (for convenience items),” he said.

Asked what kind of opposition area residents voiced, Majors said their main concern was having another liquor store within their community and “they were opposed to some of the issues they felt that would bring with another liquor store.”

Currently, there are three other businesses within a 3,000-foot radius that sell alcohol, Majors said.

Majors warned the board that adopting the ordinance wouldn’t just be an exception for the former Get-n-Go, but would also potentially allow additional liquor stores to open in the area.

Committee member Reed questioned Majors about the convenience store’s previous crime history and Majors said it wasn’t “excessive.”

“There were some police calls made, but that’s not uncommon with any package store from time to time,” Majors said. “To say it was over the top would be incorrect. There had been, I think, a violation of selling to a minor.”

Curls defended the proposed ordinance change, calling it a unique situation for the Siragusas.

For years the store operated with a liquor license, but due to time constraints and new density laws, the Siragusas couldn’t renew the expired license, she said.

Both Michael and Joe Siragusa attended the meeting and encouraged the committee to recommend the exception.

During an open house of the former Git-n-Go, the Siragusas obtained 104 signatures of support for the liquor license, Michael said.

“Without this business, (from) what our neighbors have told us, they’re burdened with finding the means to travel outside their immediate neighborhood,” Michael said. “Some don’t have cars, they’re older, some are handicapped. They can’t walk up the hill to Thriftway.

“But, to walk down the hill a short distance, get your basic necessities and go home, by god, let them have the convenience that you and I take for granted.”

Michael said the former convenience store carried staple items like eggs, milk, bread and other convenience foods. It also included an ATM machine, money orders, check cashing, money grams and Western Union service. All of those things would be restored if they could obtain a liquor license, he said.

“This is what people want. What people have asked us for (is what) we are going to endeavor there,” he said.

Joe added that the convenience store would employ at least six people and that the building would not add to the blight of the neighborhood.

“Discount Smokes” is the prospective new tenant, Michael said.

Former Northeast resident Carl DiCapo called it a “no brainer” and that it would be “putting something back in the 3rd District.” Another resident cited the 104 signatures in support of the liquor license but questioned the number of those opposed.

“I will not support it,” committee member John Sharp said. “I don’t like to see vacant buildings either, but I am not convinced that this is going to be mainly a convenience store with alcoholic beverages as part of it. It seems to me from the title of it, that it’s going to be more of a liquor store with non-alcoholic sales.”

Sharp also said he didn’t want to ignore the recommendation of city staff and that exempting a four-block radius could lead to other liquor license applications.

After further discussion, committee members Sharp, Reed, Scott Taylor and Michael Brooks voted to table the item for two weeks to further review the information and receive community input.

Raising chickens in Kansas City

While the Siragusas argued a convenience store could provide basic food staples for area residents, several Kansas Citians pushed for a more self-sufficient avenue – raising chickens.

Currently, the State of Missouri ranks 8th in the U.S. as a food insecure state and 18.4 percent of Jackson County residents are considered “food insecure,” according to Feeding America and Harvesters – The Community Food Network.

Beth Low, director of the Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition, defined food insecurity as not having access to or being able to afford healthy foods.

“Having a few chickens in your backyard can provide you with a few eggs a day,” she said. “That’s an important source of protein that’s cheap and healthy.”

Kansas City’s current ordinance stipulates a resident’s chickens must be kept at least 100 feet away from a neighboring house or building used by humans. However, in the urban core the 100-foot stipulation hinders many prospective chicken owners.

Low and other Kansas City residents are asking the committee and the city council to approve a special exception provision to allow more flexibility on a case by case basis. The proposed change would grant an exception to the distance rule if the resident obtained signed consent from all of his or her neighbors within the 100-foot area. If the neighbors consented, the resident could own chickens. David Park, director of Neighborhood and Community Services, or his designee would then visit the site to determine how many chickens would be allowed and would conduct bi-annual inspections. Distance exceptions would be subject to renewal every five years.

“Chicken ownership is happening. This is just a mechanism of dealing with it in a responsible way,” Low said. “We believe it’s unlikely the chickens will become a nuisance under the proposed changes.”

Jason Fields, vice president of the Lykins Neighborhood Association, said his family owns chickens and that the proposed change contains safeguards to “keep things from getting out of control.”

“It has the potential to change the local economy,” Fields said.

For Brookie-Lee Glaser of Historic Northeast, raising chickens provides her family with affordable healthy food and teaches her children where food comes from, she said.

“I don’t really see this as losing the protection of our neighborhoods and neighbor’s rights because you can’t get this special exception unless you get 100 percent acceptance from the neighbors involved,” Sharp said.

Committee members voted to send the proposed ordinance to the full city council with a recommendation of “do pass.”