By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-976249.mp3
Dallas, TX – Two months after Mesquite voters approved retail beer and wine sales, KERA's Bill Zeeble reports the city council has prohibited drive-through liquor stores.
The vote was unanimous by Mesquite's city council. The only public comment tied to regulating so-called beverage barns came from resident Joanne Shields.
Shields: I'm not that delighted about the beer law, as my husband was just hit by a drunk driver last year. I don't think that alcohol is going to help Mesquite and I do see the beer and alcohol all over. So time will tell but I don't think that's going to be a service to our city.
Mayor John Monaco says Mesquite's ordinance is tougher than loquor store rules established by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The city will prohibit the sale of beer and wine at shops where the vehicle can drive through a structure with a wall on two sides. Because shops in some Texas towns look like barns, the council used the term beverage barn. Mayor Monaco says citizens dislike them.
Monaco: :We don't want an unsightly beverage barn per-se. It's unsightly, it's something people don't want in their neighborhoods or close to their neighborhoods.
Mesquite already restricts drive through liquor sales at stores with a pick up window on one side. No businesses wishing to build such a drive-through store in Mesquite addressed the council.