Campaign Launched to Stop California SB 635 that Would Extend Last Call at Bars, Restaurants and Nightclubs to 4 a.m.

L.A. City Councilmember Parks Receives Support for His Opposition Resolution

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Apr 06, 2013, 02:59 ET

LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to Alcohol Justice, community organizations concerned with public health and safety have joined the statewide coalition to STOP Leno's 4 a.m. Bar Bill. They will be joined by police chiefs and Los Angeles city council members Monday at a Los Angeles City Hall press event to launch their campaign and support Council Member Bernard Parks' resolution to oppose passage of SB 635. The bill, authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would make it possible for any California bar, restaurant or nightclub to extend drinking hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

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What: Press event and rally

When: Monday, April 8, 2013 10:00 AM

Where: Los Angeles City Hall South Steps (W 1^st. St.)

Who: Speakers Include:

Bernard Parks, Los Angeles Councilmember Dist. 8, (former L.A. Chief of Police)
Richard Alarcon, Los Angeles Councilmember Dist. 7
Jorge Castillo, Advocacy Director, Alcohol Justice
Ruben Rodriguez, Executive Director, Pueblo y Salud, Inc.,
Richard Zaldivar, Founder and Executive Director of The Wall Las Memorias Project
Jeanne Shimatsu, Prevention Coordinator AADAP, Inc.
Paul Scott, WCTU
Sarah Blanch, Institute for Public Strategies
Margot Bennett, Executive Director, Women Against Gun Violence
Leonard Lee Buschel, Founder Writers in Treatment, & Reel Recovery Film Festival
Sara Cooley, MA/MPH, Project Coordinator, P³ Partnership for a Positive Pomona
Susan Blauner, Director of Operations, Saving Lives Drug and Alcohol Coalition
Dennis Hathaway, President, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
John O. Whitaker, Jr., CDS, CATC II, President, Paso Por Paso
Kevin M. Key, Community Organizer, United Coalition East Prevention Project
Crystal Cedillo, Community Organizer Koreatown Youth and Community Center

Why:

Extending hours of on-site alcohol sales into the wee hours of the morning will benefit a few bar, restaurant and nightclub owners, as well as alcohol producers and distributors, while increasing alcohol-related harms and costs at public expense
Evidence shows that two more hours of alcohol sales will nearly double alcohol-related violence, crime, police calls, emergency room visits, etc.
California already suffers $38.4 billion a year in alcohol-related harm, with local and state governments paying $8 billion annually
Alcohol-related deaths in California top 10,000 per year with over 900,000 alcohol-related incidents of harm (crimes, injuries, high-risk sex, etc.)
The last time the California alcohol excise tax was increased was in 1992
State, city and county public health and safety providers do not have the resources to mitigate the current alcohol-related economic and social harms, so who will cover the damages of two more hours of late-night alcohol consumption?
Taxpayers will pick up the bloody tab for Leno's bar bill

Statewide Coalition Members include:

Alcohol Justice
Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP)
Ban Billboard Blight
Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
County Alcohol & Drug Program Administrators Association of California (CADPAAC)
California Council on Alcohol Problems (CALCAP)
California Narcotic Officers Association
California Police Chiefs Association
Friday Night Live
Institute for Public Strategies
Lutheran Office of Public Policy California
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca
Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry
P3 Partnership for a Positive Pomona
Paso Por Paso, Inc.
Phoenix House
Pueblo Y Salud, Inc.
People Reaching Out
Prevention Institute
Social Model Recovery Systems
The Wall – Las Memorias Project
WCTU
Women Against Gun Violence
Writers In Treatment
Youth Leadership Institute (YLI)