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Beer Sale Promise Disputed

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

Jul. 14--Joe and George Shawkey's façade renovation plans for their East End convenience store ran into an unexpected snag Wednesday when several city officials accused the brothers of reneging on a promise not to sell 40-ounce bottles of beer.

The Shawkeys were asking Charleston Urban Renewal Authority board members to approve their plans to install vinyl siding, windows and new doors at the East End Market at 309 Ruffner Ave.

City officials sent a letter to the Shawkeys several months ago because the owners put plywood over the store's large display windows, telling them any exterior changes have to be approved by the CURA board.

Shawkey said he proposes a few small windows after discussing plans with CURA Director Pat Brown, although he can't get insurance for windows because of continued vandalism. He said police are unable to control the vandalism.

Brown said Shawkey's plans for just a few windows don't agree with guidelines the East End Main Street designers have written for the area, which call for large windows at stores.

Mayor Danny Jones, observing the meeting, took offense at the comment about the police. "In getting your license, did you ever promise not to sell 40-ounce beers?" he asked.

Shawkey said they promised if other owners also agreed, they'd be the first not to sell 40-ounce beers.

East End City Council member Marc Weintraub, also sitting in the audience, objected. "That's not true," he said. "You made a promise. That's why we at the neighborhood association didn't come to the ABC commission [the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration] to object. You reneged."

Weintraub said the Shawkeys made the promise in writing and it was a condition of their beer sale license with the ABCA, although the ABCA later ruled it had no authority to place such restrictions on a license.

"They'll sell cold alcoholic beverages to anyone who walks through the door," Jones said. "The problems in the area, they're the cause, right there," he said, pointing at the Shawkeys.

CURA board chairman Ed Maier, saying the beer dispute was outside the board's jurisdiction, suggested the Shawkeys return next month with firm plans for renovations.

After the meeting, Weintraub said he was opposed to CURA's decision. "We have had consultant after consultant study the East End's problems," he said.

"The solution is to have 6 feet of glass starting 2 feet off the ground. To have CURA capitulating sets a bad precedent."

Asked why he spoke up, Jones said, "That particular operation is no victim. Most of the problems we have in the area are from people selling 40-ouncers. It's not just them."

Other Washington Street business owners that have large glass windows don't have problems, and don't complain about breakage, Weintraub said. "Leonoro's doesn't complain about his glass. Joe Shawkey complains about his glass.

"It's a brilliant maneuver on his part: Do something illegal and negotiate to bring back just a little bit. I wish the Urban Renewal Authority had stuck by its guns and told the Shawkeys to take the covers off their windows, because that's the right thing to do for the neighborhood. I think they're making the situation worse."

In other business, lawyer Jim Lees asked CURA board members if there are any sources of funds to pay for exterior changes CURA has asked owner Tony Corey to make at the Trading Post, a pawn shop in a former Laundromat at 1401 Washington St. E. Lees said Corey can't afford the $20,000 needed to take down the security screens that have covered his windows for 11 years.

In a situation similar to the Shawkeys, city planning officials wrote Corey earlier this year, asking him to remove the screens. Brown said CURA never approved the screens.

Maier said it would be the owner's responsibility to bring the property into compliance.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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