Neighbors Weigh Picketing New Liquor Store

Neighbors vow to delay — or stop — the opening of Gemstone Liquor Store on Farren Avenue, arguing it will increase traffic and crime in the Annex neighborhood.

They gathered Tuesday night at Walk of Faith Church Disciples of Christ on Fairmont Avenue to share their objections to the store’s presence and brainstorm further collective action.

Storeowner Roshan Patel was expected to attend the meeting Tuesday, but did not show up. Patel was not present during Independent visits to his two liquor-store locations in town. When contacted by the Independent by phone, he said he did not have any comment on the proceedings.

The neighbors are too late to prevent Patel from getting the liquor permit for the Farren Avenue location, said Ressinia Driffin, a state agent in the Department of Consumer Protection’s Liquor Control Division. She showed up at Tuesday night’s meeting to field numerous questions from neighbors Tuesday about the steps of the permit process.

Patel first filed a permit application with the state on July 18, 2014, she said, after getting permission from New Haven zoning authorities. Until Tuesday night, he had done everything necessary to receive a liquor license, she said. ​“A person with no violations legally has a right to be there and operate a business there.”

On Sept. 10, neighbors filed two separate ​“remonstrances” with the department, ​“saying the community didn’t want it there,” Driffin said. ​“If they hadn’t filed those, he would have been granted the permit at the end of September.”

The church filed one remonstrance. Tom Burwell and Tywanna Johnson, members of the Exchange Street Neighborhood Network, filed the other, after getting neighbors to sign a petition against the store.

The petition (pictured above) expresses community concerns with ​“traffic congestion, rampant street crime, litter and noise pollution that will increase with the presence of this liquor store,” which will join various other liquor-serving establishments in the area when it opens.

Burwell, who is also co-chair of Ward 14, said he didn’t understand why Patel had to open a liquor store at 222 Farren Ave., instead of a different type of establishment.

“Take a hint. We don’t want you here,” he said.

Tuesday’s meeting was called as a result of those remonstrances.

Patel also has a store called Gem Liquors at 65 Lamberton St. in the Hill neighborhood. Driffin said she could find no public record of complaints against that store.

The state rarely, if ever, overturns city zoning decisions, even if neighbors protest, she said. The community should have attended the local zoning meeting earlier this year, to share their objections — they could have shut down the move at that stage. The permit will expire a year after Patel gets it, and neighbors can then oppose its being renewed, if they keep track of any ​“infractions” committed on his property.

Walk of Faith Pastor Walter Williams handed out a draft of a ​“memorandum of understanding,” which he planned to ask Patel to sign, if he had attended Tuesday’s community meeting. The memo lists the mutual responsibilities Patel has to the community and vice versa, in order to keep the area safe and clean.

Patel does not have to sign the memo, if he does not want to, Driffin reminded neighbors Tuesday.

“You have to allow him to operate,” she said.

“No we don’t,” Chris Ozyk called out in response. He said neighbors could take the ​“nonviolent approach” and ​“picket before it opens,” to send a message to the owner. A large oppositional community presence, especially on Friday evenings, would show Patel ​“this is what we want in our community,” he said.

“People who drink are not bad people,” he said, but liquor stores bring unwelcome traffic, especially in a neighborhood already saturated with stores that sell alcohol.

Top East Shore cop Sgt. Vincent Anastasio said he would keep an eye out on the area.

“You folks have our support. I will do as much as I can to make sure” the business is a good influence on the community, he said.

The concern is ​“what do they do after they purchase liquor from the store,” Burwell said. ​“We don’t want to see prostitution migrate.”

“Stuff like that is going to happen. I’d be lying if I said that stuff like that wasn’t going to happen,” Anastasio responded.

The main problem, Driffin said, is a city zoning system that does not have the resources to alert the community before making decisions.

Fair Haven, Annex and Fair Haven Heights Alders Santiago Berrios-Bones, Al Paolillo, and Rosa Santana showed up to support neighbors Tuesday night. They said they were not aware that the project had already gone through.

Berrios-Bones (pictured) said he went to the city asking to be notified about the process, but was never contacted.

“The city should be requiring a public hearing in the community” before making zoning decisions, said Ian Christmann, a member of the Quinnipiac River Community Group. ​“People can’t always get downtown to a zoning meeting.”

Driffin said the state liquor commission will hold another hearing in Hartford in light of the neighbors’ remonstrances, because Patel did not attend the community meeting.

Even so, the owner will likely get the permit he needs to open soon, she said. ​“We’re not going to take away the chance to get a permit based on nothing.”

After the meeting, Burwell said he liked the idea of picketing the store. He said the community would definitely organize in some way to object to the opening.