Alcoholism is root of homeless problem

Fairview's alcoholics had been under the radar until they began to die in horrific numbers. In death, they now make the news, invariably described as "homeless," because the community apparently isn't able to look directly into the battered face of alcoholism. Euphemistically, the news reports, "Empty alcohol bottles were found scattered around the body." There's a problem in tagging these folks as homeless: Public discussion now focuses on whether to provide housing.

We who live here know that the primary problem isn't housing, it's end-stage alcohol addiction. Every day, scores of alcoholics make their way up to the liquor stores at 13th and Gambell, and later they stagger back down the street, many passing out along the way. Most are in poor health, addiction's ravages carved into their faces. Many are bruised or bleeding, in a blackout. Drunk, they wail their sorrow and anger to world, the wreckage of their addiction trailing behind them. Every day, we clean up the carnage. We are overrun.

An impolite debate now rages about whether drunks should be allowed to live here. Had anyone been paying attention, they'd know that inebriates already are living in this neighborhood. They've been our neighbors, albeit nomadic ones, for years. They pay rent, too -- to the liquor stores at 13th and Gambell.

Every morning, despite policies to restrict sales to inebriates, the liquor stores effectively roll out the welcome mat, inviting alcoholics to hustle up some change and send a buddy to purchase a bottle. While the debate rages about where alcoholics should live, these doomed souls are invited back, day after day.

Fairview offers an unlimited supply of the cheap stuff. Both package stores sell the low-budget booze favored by drunks. Word has it that Carr's has the lowest prices. Street folks congregate around this store in huge numbers, bringing trouble with them or finding it once they get here.

One wonders whether the ABC Board received complaints about the effect these package stores are having on the community. No matter. The liquor licenses were renewed in January, presumably without opposition.

Meanwhile, the alcohol biz is booming. Drunks flock to 13th and Gambell, cops and paramedics roll out, we clean up the mess, people keep dying and somehow the weather becomes the culprit. The news recently reported, with sad irony, yet another death just two blocks from a shelter. What the news didn't say is that she died next door to a liquor store. The second package store was a block away. She wasn't homeless. She was an alcoholic in the end stages of her disease, and despite the liquor stores' best efforts to keep booze out of her hands, she died surrounded by bottles.

Folks are dying while the liquor stores implement more strict sales policies, as homeless camps are torn down, and as the community polarizes itself into a name-calling rant about housing. Some have said, "We'd like to see the liquor store go but, without it, the grocery store can't survive and would have to close." Well, if panhandled change is needed to keep the grocery store afloat, then let it all fail. We can shop elsewhere. And if the discussion is really about who we want as neighbors, then let's make sure we also talk about our corporate neighbors.

Closing the liquor stores isn't a magic solution that'll restore these addicted souls to sanity, but interfering with their supply of booze must be one strategy in the overall solution. Otherwise, we who live here at ground zero are left to pick up bottles and step over bodies while the liquor stores, which are among the worst of Fairview's drug dealers, continue to make a killing.

Patti Greene owns and manages rental properties on East 12th Avenue, three blocks from the 13th and Gambell liquor stores.