Don't Stop, Just Go

United we stand: Block captain Sharon Barnett (center) and Wharton street neighbors fear this stop & go. Photo By: Mike Mergen

A South Philly neighborhood has an uphill fight against a malt liquor shop.

by Daryl Gale

For the past few years, residents of the 1600 block of Wharton Street have watched their neighborhood slide quickly downhill -- a living testament to the ravages of drugs and the hopelessness of unemployment. Their block, despite the robbery and shooting of the local Chinese food store owner last week, remains relatively peaceful and clean, mostly due to their own Herculean efforts to keep it that way. Now, those neighbors are up in arms about a proposed stop and go -- a moniker given to those small stores that seem to crop up mostly in minority neighborhoods selling malt liquor, rolling papers, cigarettes and hoagies to go. The store, at 1644 Wharton, isn’t open yet -- steel roll-down shutters cover the door and windows while the owner sporadically works on renovations, but the neighbors aren’t waiting. They say that a stop and go on the corner would ruin their quality of life and bring in more of the same criminal element responsible for Saturday’s robbery, and they’re not about to stand idly by and watch it happen.

"More than 65 percent of the neighbors on this block own their homes and have lived here for years," says block captain Sharon Barnett. "A stop and go will only attract young men to hang out on the corner and drink their 40s and smoke their blunts. There are already two of these places within a few blocks of here. We've seen what happens when a corner gets taken over, and we don't need that here."

Standing in the shade of an old elm tree on the block, several neighbors gather to talk about the proposed business taking over the spot of the old Capricorn Lounge on the corner of 17th and Wharton. The Capricorn, a quiet neighborhood bar according to residents, closed more than a year ago.

"The children from Barratt [Middle School, 16th and Wharton] and Childs [Elementary School, 17th and Tasker] walk down this street every day on their way to and from school," says neighbor Joan Jackson. "We don't want them having to walk through a crowd of drug dealers and hoodlums just to get home. These stop-and-go stores attract the wrong people, and those people shouldn't be around children."

After learning of the plans to open the stop and go last fall, the neighbors decided to band together. They circulated a petition that was signed by more than 100 residents dead set against the idea of a stop and go, and took their case to their councilperson, Anna Verna, and their state rep, Harold James, as well as the state liquor control board and anyone else who'd listen. There are still a few hurdles to navigate, though.

According to correspondence sent from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to City Council President Anna Verna last November, the neighbors' complaint has to be specific, that is, they must show why new owner Pert Laov shouldn't be granted a liquor license, not just object in general to the type of business. Laov could not be contacted for comment on this story, but the residents say they don't know him and have nothing against him personally, just the kind of business he wants to set up on their block.

"It's a person-to-person transfer," says PA LCB spokesperson Megan Rigby. "Because the location previously served alcohol, the only relevant testimony from neighbors would relate to the new owner as a person of poor reputation or ill repute."

That answer isn't good enough for the neighbors, and not good enough for their city councilperson either. Bob Previdi, director of communications for Verna, vows that the full weight and resources of Verna's office are at the neighbors' disposal.

" We weren't happy with the answer from the LCB," Previdi says, "but there's still some room to maneuver, and we're refiling the petition. That said, let me emphasize that the council president is completely supportive of the community, and will be happy to meet with residents as soon and as often as they'd like."

James seconds that emotion.

"We support the neighbors 100 percent," says James emphatically. "We have an attorney working on their behalf, and we are planning a rally at the location in the next couple of weeks. It's wonderful to see that these folks have taken responsibility for their own quality of life. This kind of thing is what community activism is all about, and my office is behind them."

Block captain Barnett just hopes the politicians live up to their promises.

"We've been working on this for months now," she says, "so I'm glad there's finally some progress. We'll see what happens, but we're not giving up."