New Orleans City Council sets limitations on permit for Crowder Boulevard site
After a lengthy debate that divided some normally united eastern New Orleans neighborhood and business leaders, the New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to let a convenience store at a planned Exxon station on Crowder Boulevard sell alcohol for off-premises consumption.
View full sizeNew Orleans City Council member Jon Johnson, right, was photographed talking to Mayor Mitch Landrieu in November during demolition of a condemned apartment building in eastern New Orleans. Since taking office in May, Johnson has rejected several requests for alcohol sales permits in his district. But at the urging of Councilman Jon Johnson, whose district includes the site, the council ruled that the store can sell only beer, not wine or hard liquor, and only between 11 a.m. and midnight, though the gas station will be open around the clock. The store will not be allowed to sell single bottles or cans.
Imad Hamdan, owner of a chain of Brothers food and convenience stores in the New Orleans area, including one at Bullard Road and Interstate 10, wanted permission to sell all types of alcoholic beverages around the clock at the new store.
Hamdan was chosen by ExxonMobil to reopen the service station at 5701 Crowder Blvd., between Lake Forest Boulevard and I-10. The station has been closed since Hurricane Katrina. Hamdan said he has invested more than $3 million in the project.
Hamdan's supporters, including some leaders of the Eastern New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Commission and the New Orleans East Business Association, said he has been a good businessman and a good neighbor, not allowing problems to develop at his Shell station on Bullard.
But leaders of the Wimbledon Civic Association said a concentration of alcohol outlets along Crowder has created many problems and helped make that street a crime hot spot.
"Let's not make this street the new Bourbon Street," said association President Karol Sanders, and Greg Hamilton said residents don't want every gas station in eastern New Orleans to turn into a liquor store.
Johnson said a daiquiri shop next to the Exxon station has been a longtime focus of complaints and caused "major, major problems" before Katrina.
Since taking office in May, Johnson has rejected several requests for alcohol sales permits in his district, especially when there has been opposition from neighbors. In this case, he said, he intended to deny Hamdan's request but then would try to work out an agreement between the applicant and the community.
At that point, though, Hamdan announced he would accept a provision limiting his sales to beer, even though Johnson said Hamdan had previously rejected that limitation several times. That limitation also was originally recommended by the neighborhood advisory commission, an umbrella group for many eastern New Orleans neighborhood organizations.
Sanders said the Wimbledon group also would accept that compromise, and the council approved it 7-0.
Despite Hamdan's apparent acquiescence, however, one of his attorneys, Joseph DiRosa, said he might continue to fight some of the conditions imposed by Johnson.
Councilwoman Stacy Head said the council needs to demand better enforcement by the city of limitations and provisos such as those imposed Thursday.
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3320.