No one said it would be easy

First of all, thank you to Craig for linking to our survey. I thought some clarification was in order after the comments that were made over at the Broken Heart blog.

I created the poll, merely to take the temperature in the neighborhood about how people felt about the idea of voting dry the liquor stores on Morse. The first thing I would do were I to pursue this, is speak to the Edgewater Chamber and ask them how they did it. And also look at legal precedents,, including those mentioned by bloggerdaddy49.

Alderman Joe Moore has accepted contributions from Soo Liquors, but I don't think he or his office are big fans of Soo and the other liquor business. His office might support this if a large group in the community were behind it.

I in no way meant to imply that well run businesses such as Morseland or the package liquor store at Sheridan & Pratt should be affected. This measure would apply to businesses such as Soo Liquor that cause many problems and do nothing to try and alleviate them.

I hope people will continue to vote in this poll, just to determine if we would even be interested in pursuing such an option. I don't think there is anything wrong with exploring options and that does not seem like such a waste of time in my opinion.

UPDATE: Tonight I experienced the "same old same old." While passing through the newly beautified CTA station (Thanks Craig), heading up to the meat market I was surrounded by regulars. On the way back one of the regulars and his buddy were fighting over a half empty quart of Bud -- in the middle of the street! I called 311 and four squad cars showed up 20 minutes later. Why does this have to be the tone of our neighborhood?

Wanted: Morse Avenue Input

Morse Avenue, Rogers Park

from Sheridan Road to Clark Street

Should Morse Avenue be DRY?

Let us know where you stand by voting on the survey.

We believe that public urination, street fighting, littering, drugs, prostitution etc... can be significantly reduced on Morse Avenue by shutting down retail cash and carry liquor stores.

Existing and future bars, nightclubs and restaurants would be exempt from proposed ordinance and would remain open for business.

By getting a favorable response we will announce the date for an official kickoff meeting to begin developing strategic plans for shutting down the two stores now open for business, and to prevent further development of cash and carry liquor stores.