CALWA Calif. (FOX26) — A booze battle is brewing in Calwa, an unincorporated area in Fresno County just south of Fresno.
The county board of supervisors on Tuesday unanimously blocked new applications for liquor licenses in that area.
Local business owners say they’re just trying to grow, but county leaders argue the area already has too much alcohol in an underprivileged community.
Reehwan Agi has been running this store in Calwa for the past year.
He sells just about everything except alcohol.
He has applied for a liquor license and is now running into a booze battle with Fresno County.
Reehwan Agi said, “I gonna give the neighbors good service you know what I’m saying and that liquor is gonna make my business go up and I gonna do good service to the community and my workers.
County Supervisor Luis Chavez says there are 18 liquor stores within a 2 to 5-minute walk.
Some are just steps away from schools.
Luis Chavez said,” When our kids are going to school in the morning, they have to step over people that are sleeping on the sidewalk or urinating. And the best way that I think I can analyze this is what I want my children to be exposed to that or what I want my parents to live across the street from that.”
Chavez says the area is already struggling with crime.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve averaged anywhere from 1,200 calls for service to 1,400 calls for service. And this is just a small area of seven blocks. And what would those calls be? So in nature, the calls for us were domestic violence, assault, burglary, gang activity, and drugs.“
That’s why the county wants to block more stores from selling liquor.
A difficult move, as Chavez says they have seen an influx of applications in that area.
Reehwan says they’re being unfairly targeted, and banning licenses won’t solve the problem.
He says people will still buy from somewhere else.
Chavez says there is already a policy that limits the number of liquor stores in the city of Fresno.